





ROBINSON 



■ =:• ~ 







Class 

Book 

Copyright^ . 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSm 



THE CORRESPONDENCE 

STUDY TEXT-BOOKS IN 

TEACHER TRAINING 

OF THE BOARD OF SUNDAY SCHOOLS, 
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 



THE WORKER AND HIS BIBLE. Eiselen-<Barclay. 
Cloth. 55 cents postpaid. 

THE ELEMENTARY WORKER AND HIS WORK. 
Jacobs-Lincoln. Cloth. 55 cents postpaid. 

THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK. Robinson. 

Cloth. 55 cents postpaid. 
THE INTERMEDIATE WORKER AND HIS WORK. 

Lewis. Cloth. 55 cents postpaid. 

THE SENIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK. Lewis. 
Cloth. 55 cents postpaid. 

THE ADULT WORKER AND HIS WORK. Barclay. 
Cloth. 55 cents postpaid. 

THE SUPERINTENDENT AND HIS WORK. Brown. 
Cloth. 55 cents postpaid. 

THE WORKER AND HIS CHURCH. Beiler. Cloth. 
55 cents postpaid. 



THE WORKER AND HIS WORK SERIES. 

Complete set, eight volumes. Cloth. Boxed. $3.75. 
Express prepaid. Should be owned by every Sunday- 
school as a Workers' Library. Address 

THE BOARD OF SUNDAY SCHOOLS, 
14 W. Washington St., 
Dept. E. Chicago, 111. 



The Worker and His Work Series 



Text-books for the Correspondence 

Study Courses of The Board of 

Sunday Schools 



THE JUNIOR WORKER 
AND HIS WORK 



By 
EMMA A. ROBINSON 

Edited by 
WADE CRAWFORD BARCLAY 



Authorized and issued by The Board of Sunday 
Schools of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
Fourteen West Washington Street, Chicago, Illi- 
nois, David G. Downey, Corresponding Secretary, 
in co-operation with John T. McFarland, Editor of 
Sunday School Publications, and with his approval. 

Printed for the Board 

BY 

JENNINGS AND GRAHAM 



^5^ 
P ^ 



Copyright, 1911, by 

The Board of Sunday Schools 

of THE 

Methodist Episcopal Church 



4> D,ft> 

©CI.A303754 
NO. I 






CONTENTS 



4 



Introductory Chapter, The Graded Sunday- 
School, 7 

I. Childhood and Youth, 19 

II. Junior Characteristics, 29 

* III. Junior Interests, 37 

IV. The Sunday-School and the Junior, 46 

V. Organization, 55 

VI. General Departmental Equipment, 64 

VII. Equipment for Teacher and Pupil, - - - 71 

VIII. Duties of Officers and Teachers, 79 

IX. Materials of Instruction, - . - * - 88 

X. The Problem of Attention, .... 98 

XI. Some Fundamentals of Teaching, - 105 

XII. Teaching the Junior Class, - - - - 116 

XIII. Some Points of Special Emphasis, - - - - 128 

XIV. The Program, 143 

XV. Hand-work for Juniors, 153 

XVI. Music, 163 

XVII. Special Days, 170 

XVIII. Activities, 180 

XIX. Parents and the Sunday-School, - - - - 186 

XX. Spiritual Results, 195 

3 * 



INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 

THE GRADED SUNDAY SCHOOL 



INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 
THE GRADED SUNDAY SCHOOL 1 

I. Standard of Organization 

i. The purpose of organization. Organization is 
simply a means to an end. Given a certain situation, the 
Sunday-school should adopt such form of organization as 
Conditions w ^* kest ena bl e it to adapt itself to that situ- 
Determine ation and to accomplish the ends for which it 
Details of exists. If the school meets in a little country 
Organization sc hoolhouse, has one teacher, one class, and an 
enrollment of fifteen persons, it will not be aided in doing 
its work by adopting the complicated organization demanded 
by the city school of a thousand members. But even the 
smallest and weakest frontier school may, in a simple or- 
ganization suited to its situation and its needs, recognize the 
fundamental principles which make its big brother of the 
highest educational and religious efficiency. Conditions vary 
so widely in different schools that it is impossible to sug- 
gest a form of organization suited to all. Each school will 
do best by acquainting itself thoroughly with the highest 
ideals in Sunday-school work; and then, beginning with a 
working plan suited to its situation, gradually advancing to- 
ward the ideal. 

2. The ideal standard. So far as possible, every Sunday- 



1 By Wade Crawford Barclay, Educational Director of the Board of 

Sunday Schools. 

7 



8 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

school should attain to the following ideal of organi- 
sation : 

(i) The Sunday-school fully gradtd, 

(a) A Cradle Roll. 

(3) A Home Department. 

(4) A Teacher Training Department. 

(5) Organized Adult Classes. 

(6) A Sunday School Missionary Organization. 

(7) A Sunday School Temperance Organization. 

(8) Regular Meeting of the Sunday School Board. 

3. Officers necessary to realize this ideal. It will be 
found necessary, in order to realize this ideal of organization 
and all that it implies, to have at least the following officers: 
Superintendent; an Assistant Superintendent, who shall be 
Director of Graded Instruction; a second Assistant Super- 
intendent, who shall be Director of Teacher Training; in 
large schools superintendents of various departments, as Su- 
perintendent of the Primary Department, Superintendent of 
the Junior Department, etc. ; Superintendent of the Home De- 
partment; Superintendent of the Cradle Roll; Secretary; an 
Assistant Secretary, who shall be Secretary of Enrollment 
and Classification; Treasurer; Organist; Chorister; one or 
more Librarians ; Ushers, and various committees, of which 
one should be the Quarterly Conference Committee on Sunday 
schools required by the Discipline, and another a Committee 
on Sunday School Evangelism. 

4. The relation of the pastor to the Sunday-school. 
Since the Sunday-school is integrally a part of the Church, 
the pastor is as truly pastor of the Sunday-school as of the 
Church itself. Methodist Episcopal Church polity recognizes 
this and makes the pastor the executive head of the Sunday- 
school, and clearly defines his prerogatives as such. This re- 
lation should be cordially recognized by officers and school, 
and every facility afforded the pastor to exercise a helpful 
and fruitful ministry in that department of the Church which 
offers him his largest spiritual opportunity. 



THE GRADED SUNDAY-SCHOOL 9 

II. The Graded School 

x. What is a Graded School? There are few schools 
but what have from the beginning made some approach to 
grading. Seldom, indeed, is a school found which does not 
All Schools separate the gray heads from the curly locks. Not 
are to some only are classes formed, as a rule, with more or 
Extent less successful attempt to group together those 

Graded Q £ a pp rox imately the same age, but the lesson 

helps commonly furnished bear titles such as Intermediate 
Quarterly, Senior Quarterly, which thus recognize the dif- 
ferent departments from beginners to adults. Thus it would 
seem at first glance that the average school has been graded, 
both as to pupils and as to lesson materials. But as a 
matter of fact, this is only a seeming gradation. Age alone 
is not a proper basis for grading pupils. As for the cur- 
riculum, since all lesson helps of the uniform series use the 
same lesson material for all ages, and presuppose almost 
entirely the same teaching methods for all, they can be said 
to be graded only in name. 

In order that a school may be properly and successfully 
graded there must be, in both theory and practice, full recog- 
nition of the following principles : 

(a) The members of the school must be graded into 
general divisions suggested by the natural periods of human 
A life; and, secondly, into classes upon the basis of 

Completely age, physical development, and mental capacity. 
Graded (b) The curriculum must be so planned as to 

School present materials of instruction suited to the men- 

tal powers, the interests, and the spiritual needs of the pupils. 

(c) The teaching methods used must likewise be deter- 
mined by and suited to the mental development and spiritual 
needs of the learners. 

(d) Promotions from class to class and from department 
to department must be upon the basis of a standard which 
has regard both to proficiency in the curriculum, and to age 
and physical, mental, and spiritual development. 



io THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

2. The necessity of grading. If the Sunday-school is 
to realize its highest possibilities, grading is not a matter of 
opinion or choice, but a necessity. This by no means declares 
other methods a failure; "it recognizes the good already at- 
tained, while it seeks a higher good." Grading rests upon 
these established principles: 

(a) Human life is by nature marked off into certain clearly 
defined periods. A human being is a developing creature 
with needs different in different periods of his developing 
God life. Grading is the recognition of this fact. 
First Graded No Sunday-school consists of pupils all of one 
Human a ge; rather, it is made up of people of all ages 
Llfe and in all stages of physical, mental, and spir- 
itual growth. Grading is the means of adaptation to these 
existing facts. It is a commonplace of child study to-day 
that at one period play is a dominating element; at another, 
memory power reaches its culmination; at another, biography 
makes its strongest appeal; at still another, "the chivalric 
ideals and great altruistic principles of Christianity appeal 
with almost irresistible force." The aptitudes, the needs, the 
interests of the different periods can only be met and taken 
advantage of by a graded system. 

(b) In all teaching the mind of the learner is now the 
point of departure. Teaching has to do with two principals: 
the learner and the truth to be taught. In the Sunday-school 
Teaching * n ^ e P ast a ^ most au * emphasis has been placed 
Has Regard upon the body of material to be taught. The 
First to the lesson system has been planned almost entirely 
Being who is with regar( i to t h e Bible. But the science of 
to be Taught , , , . « 

pedagogy has been coming more and more to 

hold that effective teaching must regard first the mind of 
the learner, and consider the teaching material as a means 
of reaching desired ends. As soon as this point of view is 
adopted, grading of the lesson material becomes necessary. 
Only this secures the presentation of the different parts of 
the Bible at the time at which they severally make their 
strongest and most effective appeal. The application of this 

4 



THE GRADED SUNDAY-SCHOOL n 

principle would make forever impossible the presentation to 
the minds of little children of lesson material which is fitted 
to test the intellectual acumen of college graduates. 

(c) The Bible itself is best studied in the order of its 
development. The uniform lesson system ignores both the 
fact that the Bible is a body of sacred literature which de- 
Different veloped slowly through long centuries, and that 

Parts of Bible it is a gradual and progressive revelation of the 
Represent purpose and will of God concerning men. 1 The 
Periods of graded system is fitted to give due emphasis to 
both these facts. A graded course of study pre- 
senting the Bible practically in the order in which it came 
into existence, which order is singularly fitted to the periods 
of mental growth, will give to the person who takes the 
course complete and connected knowledge of the Scriptures 
and their teaching quite impossible of impartation by means 
of the fragmentary, patchwork method of the uniform system. 

3. Objections to grading. It may be well to consider 
briefly the most common objections made to grading the 
Sunday-school. It is objected that: 

(a) Grading will do away with uniformity, that is, the 
use of the same lesson by the whole school and by all 
schools throughout the world. There can be no doubt that 
the uniform lesson system was at the time of its inauguration 
a great improvement over the previous lack of any system 
whatever, and that it has been attended by many benefits and 
advantages. It marked a distinct stage of advance in Sunday 
school development, but it has served its day and must now 
give way in order that the Sunday-school may become still 
more efficient. We can afford to discard a good for a still 
greater good. The uniform lesson idea appeals to sentiment, 



* " If the Bible is the history of a progressive revelation, and if, for this 
reason, it yields its best results alike intellectually and religiously when it is 
studied with due reference to the relation of part to part, and to the unfolding of 
the great divine truth and revelation that runs through it, then we shall give our 
suffrages to the graded curriculum in preference to the system of uniformity." 
—Burton and Mathews, Principles and Ideals /or the Sunday School, p. /JO. 

4 



12 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

but it is easily discernible that the strongest influence in its 
favor at present is that growing out of the fact that it has 
been financially remunerative. Surely all will concede that 
neither mere sentiment nor financial gain should be allowed 
to stand in the way of the Sunday-school becoming a greater 
power for religion and morals. 

(b) Grading requires specialists. This objection, frequently 
made, is not valid. The untrained teacher has at least as 
much chance of doing good work in a graded as in an un- 
graded school. The lesson material making a stronger appeal 
to the interests of the pupils is easier to handle. Moreover, 
the assignment of the teacher to a certain grade makes it 
possible for him to become a specialist by attaining mastery 
in that particular field. 1 

(c) It is too difficult to effect a change. The difficulties 
are likely to be unduly magnified. A graded system may be 
introduced so gradually as to occasion little notice or diffi- 
culty. When the advantages of a graded school are fully 
realized, ways may be found to overcome what difficulties 
really exist. It is only necessary that the plan be clearly 
understood by those intimately concerned in necessary changes 
and that they be brought to realize the force of the reasons 
demanding the changes. 2 

4. Plan of graded organization. 

(a) The natural divisions of human life. The great 
primary divisions of human life have always been recognized 
— childhood, the period of subjection, imitation, receptivity; 
youth, the period of awakening powers ; manhood, the period 
of developed powers. Psychology, and especially child-study, 
has made equally clear secondary natural periods, which, ex- 

*"See how the primary teachers grow; they are head and shoulders 
above the rest in organization, in printed helps, in sheer pedagogic efficiency- 
why ? Because they have accepted a narrow location, an age limit of pupils, 
and maintained it through the years. They have done the same kind of work 
over and over again ; of course, they have grown efficient." — E. M. Fergusson. 

2 " Failures have come only when the attempt has been made to force on 
the school some mechanical contrivance in a mechanical manner. Let the 
principle and plan be fully understood by all workers. "-H. F. Cope. 

4 



THE GRADED SUNDAY-SCHOOL 



13 



pressed in terms of age, are from one to three, three to seven, 
seven to nine, nine to twelve or thirteen, thirteen to sixteen 
or seventeen. The age division differs with the sexes, the 
male sex developing more slowly. Even within sex limits 
Grading Is ^ e P el "i°ds vary with individuals, dependent upon 
Working in the rapidity or tardiness of the physical, mental, 
Harmony and spiritual development. This fact makes the 
With God age standard alone an unsatisfactory one. These 
natural divisions or periods of human life form the basis of 
the organization of the graded Sunday-school. 

(b) The divisions of the Sunday-school. On the foregoing 
basis the graded Sunday-school has the following divisions: 

Agt Public School Grade 

Cradle Roll 



Beginner's Dept 



i 



Primary Dept. 



Junior Dept. 



Intermediate Dept. 



Senior Dept. 



Adult Dept 

a. Organized Adu,lt Bible Classes. 

b. Teacher Training Department. 
Home Department 



3 


•• 


4 


.. 


5 




6 


i 


7 


2 


8 


3 


9 


4 


10 


5 


ii 


6 


12 


7 


13 


8 


14 


9 


15 


10 


16 


ii 


17 


12 


18 


. . 


19 




20 




Over 20. 





i 4 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

III. Administration of the Graded School 

In administration, again, to a certain extent, each school 
must work out its own problems. Often the inadequate 
facilities for school work afforded by the church building 
Principles to f° rces a modification or entire change of plans 
Be Regarded which under more favorable conditions would 
in Admin- be of the highest standard. Only general prin- 
lstration ciples may be enunciated. These should be 

regarded in practice to the largest extent which local con- 
ditions allow. 

i. Each department of the school should have its own 
room. This arrangement promotes an ideal organization and 
administration of the graded curriculum and is greatly to 
Separate ^ e desired wherever it is possible, although in 

Rooms for most schools, as at present situated, it is of 
Departments course impracticable. These departmental rooms 
and Classes s h ou \d be so planned as to allow the placing of 
the various grades in separate rooms. For example, the 
Primary room should be so planned as to be easily sub- 
divided into three smaller rooms, one for each grade. The 
division of departments may well be into grades only, up to 
the Intermediate Department, in which the three grades 
should be subdivided into classes. That is, in the Beginners', 
Primary, and Junior Departments the grade may constitute 
the unit, but in the Intermediate Department, and beyond, 
the class should be the unit, thus placing a smaller number 
of pupils under the care of a teacher and allowing an op- 
portunity for that close personal association which is so es- 
sential during the crucial years of adolescence. The Inter- 
mediate room should therefore be large enough to allow a 
separate classroom to each class. 

It is quite impossible for the grade or class to do its best 
work without a room to itself. When this can not be, each 
class should be shut off by screens or other temporary par- 
titions. In some cases heavy curtains may be used to ad- 
vantage. 



THE GRADED SUNDAY-SCHOOL 15 

2. The school should meet |pgether for brief open- 
ing exercises. An assembly room, which in actual practice 
will most often be the church auditorium, should be used 
An opening to assem ble the entire school at the opening of 
Service for the school session. An exception may well be 
the Entire! made of the little ones of the Beginners' Depart- 
School ment, and probably also of the Primary Depart- 
ment. Beyond this, however, no exceptions should be made. 
This plan gives a sense of unity and binds the various depart- 
ments and organized classes to the school and to the Church 
in a manner highly desirable. These exercises should be very 
brief, much more so than they usually are at present — as a 
rule not more than fifteen minutes should be used in this 
way, in order that the all too brief teaching period may 
be lengthened as much as possible. The first essential of 
these exercises is promptness in beginning; the superin- 
tendent and chorister should be in their places exactly on 
time to open the school; better five minutes early than one 
minute late. The primary purpose of these exercises is wor- 
ship, hence reverence must be cultivated. The manner of 
conducting the exercises, the hymns used, the words of the 
leader, — all should combine to induce the spirit of reverence 
and worship. 

3. In general, teachers should remain in charge of 
the same grade. The question as to whether the teacher 
should thus remain in one grade or advance from grade to 

grade with the class has been sharply debated 
Teachers j n literature and convention. In general, there 
Grades can ^ e ^^ e Q uest i° n as t° the advisability of 

the teacher remaining stationary. As stated 
above, it enables the teacher to become a specialist in some 
one particular field. Sunday-school teachers are busy people 
and can neither be required nor expected to thoroughly ac- 
quaint themselves with the entire field of Sunday-school in- 
struction and life. They may, however, reasonably be ex- 
pected in time to become adept in the field of some one 
z * 



16 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

department or grade. The objection is made that under the 
old system the class became attached to the teacher and thus 
by the bond of personal affection were held to the Sunday- 
school. But did it always work out so happily? As a recent 
writer puts it: "Suppose the teacher goes into heaven, into 
matrimony, or elsewhere. Where will the class go? They 
will go — be very sure of that." Whatever weight this argu- 
ment has is counterbalanced by the fact that passing from 
one teacher to another aids in giving to the pupils a distinct 
sense of advance and by so doing promotes interest and effort. 

An exception to this general rule may be made in the 
Intermediate and Senior Departments. Here a teacher who 
has shown himself capable of interesting and influencing the 
pupils should be allowed to continue with the same class 
through the three grades of the department. Confidence 
of the pupils in their teacher, personal friendship, and in- 
timate acquaintanceship of the teacher with the pupils are 
at this period indispensable. These can only exist as teacher 
and class may be together for more than one year. But this 
continuance of the same teacher with the class should not 
extend beyond the limits of the department. 

How important, in view of the light shed in recent years 
upon the period of adolescence, that the teacher who is to be 
entrusted with the moral and religious guidance of young 
people of this age have an intimate acquaintanceship with 
the most important literature on the subject — such an ac- 
quaintanceship as can only be attained by giving exclusive 
attention to this one department! The age is by common 
consent difficult to deal with. How important, again, that a 
man who has come through experience to understand and 
sympathize with adolescent boys, and has attained power to 
lead and mold them, be allowed the opportunity to exercise 
continuously this much needed ministry! 

4. The best possible facilities and equipment should 
be provided. Altogether too little attention has been paid 
in the past to adequate facilities for the work of the Sunday- 



THE GRADED SUNDAY-SCHOOL 17 

school. In plans of architects and committees, the require- 
ments of the Sunday-school have been ignored or given, at 
the best, slight consideration. Along with increased interest 
Adequate * n ^ e Sunday-school and improved methods must 
Buildin* go better facilities and more complete equipment, 

and Equip- Sunday-school workers themselves have a right 
menttobe to ^ Q heard upon this subject, and should insist 
on the Sunday-school being provided for in ac- 
cord with its importance to the Church and the kingdom. 
Some large Sunday-schools now have a building all their own, 
especially designed for Sunday-school work and elaborately 
equipped. This is as it should be. No longer should any 
Sunday-school be compelled to carry on its work in one room 
of a large church, and that a dark, damp, illy-furnished base- 
ment. 

Careful consideration should be paid to securing graded 
equipment, proper text-books in sufficient number, and teach- 
ers who have been prepared for their work. It would be 
unwise for any school to endeavor to introduce a graded 
curriculum without attention being paid to these essentials. 

Lesson Outline: 

I. Standard of Organization. 
II. The Graded School. 

1. What is a graded school? 

2. The necessity of grading. 

3. Objections to grading. 

4. Plan of graded organization. 

III. Administration of the Graded School. 

Topics for Special Study: 

1. Sunday-school architecture. 

2. Some successful graded schools. 

Topics for Class Discussion: 

1. To what extent can a standard of organization be 
fixed for all schools? 



i8 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

2. State the ideal standard. 

3. What officers are essential? 

4. What is the relation of the pastor to the Sunday- 

school ? 

5. What principles must be given recognition in the 

fully graded school? 

6. What reasons make grading necessary to the best 

work? 

7. State and answer the common objections to grading. 

8. Name the divisions and subdivisions or departments 

of a graded school. 



CHAPTER I 
CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH 

The strength of the Christian Church consists not alone 
in numbers; not in the value of the property, nor in the 
magnificence of its buildings or equipment. Its greatest 
source of power is in a membership of stalwart, intelli- 
gent, loyal Christians, who give to the Church a name 
A _ for Christian integrity and noble living, and 

A Strong ..... ,7 r ^ . , 

Church J oln hands in valiant service for Christ and 

His kingdom. Such a Church can not be consti- 
tuted of material ready at hand : it must be gradually builded 
through the years by building boys and girls into strong, stal- 
wart Christian character. This can only be done at great 
cost and with utmost care. 

I. The Junior Period 

The word Junior in the terminology of the Sunday-school 
has acquired a new meaning. The Junior is that somewhat 
nondescript person who, having outgrown early childhood, 
has not yet arrived at the period of adolescence. The years 
which, according to accepted Sunday-school usage, are termed 
The the Junior years are from nine to twelve inclus- 

" Between " j ve# This gives the Junior Department of the 
school a term of four years instead of three as 
in the Primary Department. This division is based upon 
reasons of physical, mental, and spiritual development. 

With the little child one may claim acquaintance. He 
may even attempt to define him. But who would have the 
temerity even to suggest a definition of the boy whom, for 

19 4 



20 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

convenience, we term a Junior? Physical vigor, with ac- 
companying energy, unbounded confidence in self, unlimited 
admiration for strength, power, and ability all leave strong 
, ~._ lines in this composite picture. Lawless, yet 

General Char- ., , , r , , ' . * 

acterization susceptible to the most subtle influence; irre- 
sponsible, yet carrying limited responsibility with 
the utmost fidelity; wide awake, active, and alert, the Junior 
has all the lingering characteristics of childhood, mingled and 
commingled with those of budding youth. 

"It is the age that knows nothing of nerves, that tracks 
mud over clean floors, that litters rooms, that ignores the 
proprieties and neighbors* rights, and that seems to exist but 
for the single purpose of having 'fun/ and making noise and 
mischief. The small bad boy of fiction, the boy who hides 
under the sofa to appear at critical moments, who discloses 
embarrassing facts, and perpetrates startling practical jokes, 
belongs to this age. He is regarded by his own parents very 
often with impatience, and he is more than likely rated by 
some neighbors as a nuisance." (Pattee.) 

The Junior period is one of six into which childhood and 
youth are divided. While the students of this book are for 
the most part workers in the Junior Department of the Sun- 
day-school, and the primary purpose of the book is to pre- 
pare them in a special way for their work with Junior boys 
and girls, we must not overlook the fact that they can do 
this work most effectively by knowing something of the 
periods of human life preceding and following that which is 
their special subject of study. 

II. Other Periods 

i. Beginners. The period from three to five years, in- 
clusive, is known as Early Childhood; in the public school 
it is spoken of as the Kindergarten age, in the Sunday-school 
as the Beginners' Period, and the children are called Begin- 
ners. The pupil of this period has already passed through 
one stage of his earth life, that of babyhood or infancy, and 



CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH 21 

has now entered a second. Some of the more marked char* 
acteristics of this period are: 

(a) Activity, The instinctive, purposeless movements of 
babyhood have given way to intelligent, willed physical ac- 
tivity. The normal child is ceaselessly in motion; he can 
not be kept still; physical activity is almost his sole means 
of expressing nervous energy, and is an absolutely essential 
means of development. 

(b) Sense perception. His world is one of sensations, 
not of ideas. General percepts, the abstract, are beyond his 
comprehension. He must see and handle in order to learn. 
His senses are "hungry," he watches everybody and every- 
thing with wide-open eyes; he longs to get strange and un- 
familiar objects into his hands. 

(c) Imitation. He learns to do by imitating those about 
him; frequently imitation with him seems to be unconscious, 
perhaps instinctive. Whatever he sees he imitates; he re- 
produces his world in his own activities. 

(d) Imagination. The little child's imagination is very 
active. He does not distinguish clearly between the real and 
the imaginary. A child of five may not yet have learned that 
his dreams are not realities. Much of his world is make- 
believe: the broomstick is a horse, the chair a wagon, the 
table a big store. He is never alone, companions of his own 
creation are his playmates, and imaginary animals his pets. 
Allied to the imaginative instinct is a tendency to animism 
which imparts personality to inanimate objects, and makes 
them creatures of soul and feeling and desire. 

(e) Curiosity. The so-called mischievousness of little 
children is principally a desire to know. Other manifesta- 
tions are seen in destructiveness and in the asking of ques- 
tions. From how things feel and how they are made the 
child's interest extends as time goes on to what they are 
for, where they came from, and how they came to be. 

(f) Selfishness. "All the impulses of the young child 
are centered in self and the satisfaction of its wants. This 



22 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

selfishness manifests itself in many ways: in anger, when 
his wants or wishes are interfered with by others; in envy, 
when he wishes things which he sees others possess; in 
jealousy, when he desires for himself the attentions paid to 
others." 

(g) Suggestibility. The little child is extremely suggest- 
ible. Small says: "In healthy children suggestibility is (i) 
a universal condition, (2) high in degree, (3) largely within 
the control of any one who knows the working of the child- 
mind." 

These characteristics and interests present the key to suc- 
cessful Sunday-school work. The child must be ruled and 
influenced through these media if at all. Religion can not 
now be taught as doctrine or as abstract truth. It must be 
presented through objects (as pictures, or flower, leaf, or 
seed accompanied by explanation and comment). Impres- 
sion and atmosphere will accomplish much. Ideal personal 
qualities in teachers will be a strong influence for good. God 
should be revealed to the little child as Father, His provi- 
dential care taught, and His creative activities shown. 

2. Primaries. From six to eight years is the period of 
Middle Childhood. The little child has now become a school- 
boy or girl. Characteristics of Early Childhood for the most 
part persist through this period, some intensified, others 
weakened. Curiosity is now inquiry, and numberless are the 
questions asked. The whole mental life has new power and 
outreach. The child now begins to think for himself. The 
vocabulary is enlarged. Perception becomes active. Imita- 
tion is guided and amplified by observation. The life is less 
self-centered. Social tendencies are now manifest; compan- 
ions are more sought than in the earlier years. Activity is 
not less marked, but is now becoming purposeful. Physical 
growth, though less rapid than in Early Childhood, still pro- 
ceeds apace. It is likely to be more marked at the latter 
part than at the beginning of the period. Some specific char- 
acteristics are: 

4 



CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH 23 

(a) Memory. The mind has new power to retain that 
which is given it; ideas and facts now begin to be held in 
their relations, instead of disconnectedly. The pupil is now 
capable of study and the mastery of assigned tasks and 
lessons. 

(b) Self-consciousness, "in the sense of the consciousness 
of pleasurable or painful feelings associated with himself. 
These self-feelings of the child are seen in its 'show-off/ in 
its stage-frights," and in bashfulness even in the presence of 
immediate members of the family. A very different aspect 
of the increased consciousness of self is seen in assertion of 
authority over younger children by commanding, teasing, and 
tormenting them. The boy especially of this age is not averse 
to a fight with another boy. 

(c) Growing religious interest. God has become more 
real and the child's belief in Him more definite. The age is 
one of faith; religious truth is welcomed and accepted with 
implicit confidence. Primary children respond to teaching 
concerning the love of the Father and of Christ with a spon- 
taneous, genuine affection. 

(d) Active emotions. The Primary child freely expresses 
his emotions. "He loves as the sun shines, and he tells his 
love with perfect unconsciousness." He is quick and ready 
to express his sympathy. He is fun-loving and expresses his 
joy and delight in his sports, his comradeships, and his gifts 
with enthusiasm and abandon. 

With this artless, trustful, enthusiastic, mentally alert 
being the Sunday-school surely has great opportunities. 
Teaching must still be presented in concrete form and in 
connection with a person. The story is of intense interest, 
and should be largely used. Handwork will be of much as- 
sistance as a means of utilizing activity and impressing the 
truth. Rightly taught and nurtured the Primary child may 
be made an earnest, trustful, loving, obedient disciple. 

3. The Intermediates. Omitting the period of Later Child- 
hood (treated in detail in the next chapter), we come to 

4 



24 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

Early Adolescence, the Intermediate period, thirteen to sixteen 
years, inclusive. It is the time of the physiological new 
birth, when the boy and girl are born "out of childhood into 
manhood and womanhood." The body again increases rap* 
idly in height and weight, so rapidly that delicate adjust- 
ments between muscles and bones are difficult and awkward- 
ness results. The features are likely to undergo a marked 
change, and to assume their final type. "The heart increases 
in size, and the arteries become one-third larger. The skin 
becomes more sensitive and all the senses are strengthened/' 
Physical strength is increased. The mind also undergoes 
radical changes : reasoning power is increased, new emotions 
are born, strange hopes and fears engage the soul. Inter- 
ests are broadened and increased in number. "It is an awak- 
ening time of new possibilities, physical, mental, moral, and 
spiritual. The highest possibilities of the soul, as well as 
some of the lowest, are now unfolding." Hereditary influ- 
ences are likely to now manifest themselves in definite and 
strong ways. Some of the more marked characteristics are: 

(a) Consciousness of selfhood. The Intermediate has 
come into a new consciousness of himself as a distinct in- 
dividual, the result of his possession of new mental and bodily 
powers. This is frequently manifested in a new care for his 
personal appearance, and a new pride in his family relation- 
ships and position. It is accompanied by a painful sensitive- 
ness concerning personal appearance, any deformities, and 
awkwardness. 

(b) Social consciousness. "There is a change from the 
small and selfish interests of childhood to the broader inter- 
ests of the gang, the community, and, in a vague way, people 
at large. By fifteen years of age impulses from within to 
sacrifice for others, and make life a blessing, begin to be felt." 
(Musselman.) 

(c) Instability. "Life is in a state of unstable equilibrium 
and a touch may move it. The influence of one book, of one 
friend, of one hasty word of criticism or passing word of en- 



\ 



CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH 25 

couragement may determine the future of a soul." (Lamo- 
reaux.) "Superlatives, slang, and the highest pitches of en- 
thusiasm are common experience, and because action and re- 
action are equal and opposite periods of depression corre- 
sponding to those of exhilaration are almost inevitable." 

(d) Desire for fellowship. This is the lonely age. The 
youth is in a new world and almost a stranger to himself. 
He is uncommunicative and reticent, but he craves fellowship. 
He wants no fuss made over him, and despises to be treated 
like a child ; but his heart longs for sympathy, and in his own 
way he appreciates and reciprocates it. 

Nowhere else has the Sunday-school so failed to appreci- 
ate and use its opportunity as here. The Intermediate has 
been misunderstood and misjudged. As a consequence large 
numbers of boys and girls have left the school during these 
crucial years. The first need is for a man or woman who 
satisfies the lofty ideal of the Intermediate. The hero inter- 
est is now at its height, and the right sort of teacher may min- 
ister to it. Personal relationship between teacher and pupil 
may now perform its greatest service. "There is no greater 
blessing that can come to a boy (or girl) at this age when 
he does not understand himself, than a good, strong teacher 
who understands him, has faith in him, and will day by day 
lead him till he can walk alone." Some spiritual crisis dur- 
ing the period there is almost sure to be. For the one who 
has been a Christian, a strengthening and deepening of the 
religious life, a renewal of vows, or the choosing of a reli- 
gious life work. With many others it is the time of first 
awakening. The largest number of conversions occur during 
this period. If the Sunday-school loses its hold the life is 
likely to change for the worse, a change often decided and 
permanent. 

4. Seniors. The years seventeen to twenty, inclusive, 
constitute Middle Adolescence. Physically, growth is usually 
about complete at nineteen or twenty, though normally there 
is a continued increase of strength. By this time the body 



26 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

should be well under control of the mind. "All of the bodily 
appetites and impulses are stronger than in the preceding 
period." Some special characteristics are: 

(a) Increased reasoning power. The youth thinks for 
himself. His reasoning powers have developed rapidly dur- 
ing early adolescence. This has been accompanied by a 
growing spirit of independence and a lessening of suggest- 
ibility. It is sometimes spoken of as a period of doubt; it 
may perhaps better be characterized as a time of testing, each 
seeking to discover for himself foundations of belief. 

(b) Ambitious ideals. Every youth dreams of world con- 
quest. Enthusiasm for achievement in some direction is un- 
bounded. No enterprise is too vast to be undertaken, no 
obstacles are sufficient to daunt the courage. A summary of 
the achievements due to the courage, the daring, the deter- 
mination, the activity of youth would form no small part of 
the world's record of great deeds. If inspired by high and 
noble ideals, earlier implanted, youth's ambition results only 
in good; if Christian nurture has failed to do its work all of 
youth's daring energy may be exerted in the accomplishment 
of evil deeds. Eighteen to twenty-five is the age of greatest 
criminality. 

(c) Social nature. Without apology the youth now seeks 
social fellowship. The social club and the parlor circle have 
acknowledged charm. The sexes seek each other's company. 
The homing instinct is making itself felt, and in many in- 
stances life partners are now chosen. 

The great service of the Sunday-school during Middle and 
Later Adolescence is to lead the youth out into active, earn- 
est service. Teaching should be intelligent, strong, adapted 
to the varied interests of youth, and addressed principally to 
the reason. Though apparently shunning counsel, in many 
cases the youth will at heart welcome instruction and sympa- 
thetic direction. Special courses of study will be found help- 
ful. The Senior Department should organize its classes, and 
each class should enlist its members in definite forms of 



CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH 27 

Christian service. Here is the place to introduce Teacher 
Training into the school's curriculum. 

III. The Importance of the Junior Period 

Some psychologists affirm that in childhood and youth 
every action and thought makes a line in the plastic ma- 
terial of the brain; that each repetition of that action deepens 
the line until in time a groove is formed; that during the 
years from fourteen to eighteen this brain material gradually 
hardens until by the time the youth has reached the age of 
twenty the grooves have become fixed and almost unchange- 
able. These grooves are an explanation of what 
The Founda- we u habits< When the chnd enterg n the 

tions of 

Character Junior Period his brain has attained full size 
but is plastic; this plasticity continues through- 
out the Junior years, but there being no longer the change 
attendant upon the growth of that organ, by repeated actions 
the lines are becoming deepened so that a boy or girl comes 
to the age when the hardening process begins with lines well 
developed ; or, in common terms, with habits well formed. As 
the adolescent determines the man, the Junior determines the 
adolescent. Some one has aptly said, "O that sixty could 
make the choice for sixteen ! But alas ! sixteen must make 
the decisions for sixty." True as this is, it is equally true that 
the choices of sixteen are to a large extent governed by the 
habits of twelve. A boy who through the Junior age is 
trained in habits of strict honesty — and strict honesty may be- 
come one of the marked characteristics of the Junior age — 
will come up to the time when the desire to acquire simply 
for the sake of having is intense, with but little danger of be- 
coming a thief because already the habit of honesty is formed 
and the other instinct is but temporary and will pass before 
the deep groove of honesty is obliterated. 

He who, during the Junior years, has formed the habit of 
reverence for God, is rarely turned aside from this attitude, 
even though for a time he may be disturbed and even tossed 



28 • THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

about by the normal questioning of the advancing years. 
Out of nearly four hundred representative young people of 
whom the question was asked, sixty-five per cent gave testi- 
mony to the fact that they had become Christians before 
reaching the age of fourteen. This then is the great im- 
portance of the Junior Age. 

Lesson Outline: 

I. The Junior Period. 
II. Other Periods, 
i. Beginners. 

2. Primaries. 

3. Intermediates. 

4. Seniors. 

III. The Importance of the Junior Period. 

Topic for Special Study: 

1. Religious experiences of the Junior Period. 

Topics for Class Discussion: 

1. Give a general characterization of the Junior. 

2. Name the marked characteristics of the Beginners' 

Period. 

3. Describe the Primary child. 

4. Give a general characterization of the Intermediate 

Period. 

5. Name some specific characteristics of the period. 

6. State the principal characteristics of the Senior Age. 

7. What makes the Junior Period one of great im- 

portance ? 



CHAPTER II 

JUNIOR CHARACTERISTICS 

I. General 

The boy or girl of Junior age presents a view of kaleido- 
scopic activity, the rapid movements of which are all a part of 
a harmonious whole. This period might well be termed 
energy vitalized. Physically the Junior is an embodiment 
_ of almost perpetual activity. Mentally he is 

F.n»fffy 

Vitalized reaching out and drawing in like the octopus 
everything which he can grasp. He absorbs 
everything he hears, good and bad alike, reads everything that 
comes within his reach regardless of its quality, investigates 
everything at hand. 

"As according to the Lamarcken theory the neck of the 
giraffe grew by long continued effort to reach the food sup- 
ply, so the Junior grows by doing things : doing hard things ; 
and he is never satisfied until he excels his own record and 
then attempts to excel that." 

II. Specific 

i. Physical Characteristics. This period is one of slow 
growth but of intense activity. The muscles must have exer- 
cise. Physical activity alone will satisfy. This is the age at 
which "boys and girls have a thousand springs with which 
Activity to wriggle, but not one with which to sit still." 

The activity of the little child may be satisfied 
with mere variety of occupation; not so the Junior. Some- 
thing hard to do is his demand, and the greater the physical 
activity the better. He is led by an irresistible impulse to 

29 4 



30 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

test every muscle and sinew, matching strength with strength, 
and rilled with a determination to excel. 

At the age of nine the brain has attained its full size, some- 
thing of the grace and attractiveness of childhood has disap- 
peared, the limbs have lengthened, and the body has become 
more angular. The rapidly grown muscles now demand ex- 
Growth ercise, while exercise brings to them strength 
and endurance. The hardening of these muscles 
becomes the pride of a boy's life, and girls are scarcely less 
proud of their ability to show a good muscle. The appetite 
must meet the demands of increasing strength; boys and 
girls of this age are always hungry. 

The beginning of this period is usually marked by abound- 
ing health. 1 The Junior has little sympathy with the weak- 
ling, and his ideal is the man of physical strength and size. 

- - . m There is no physical effort he is not willing to 
Health and , , T , . , ,. , . . , , 

Strength undertake, in the yielding to this impulse to do 

far beyond his strength he gradually comes to 

recognize his limitations and at the same time his mind is 

developing in perception, judgment, and reasoning powers. 

During the latter part of this period parents sometimes no- 
tice a sudden and unexplainable loss of vitality, and often the 
attraction of the big chair and the book becomes greater 
than that of physical effort. Energy is variable. At times 
the Junior seems himself, undaunted by any obstacle; again 
he is listless and uninterested. Such indications demand im- 
perative attention. Out of door life, plenty of nourishing food 
and long hours of sleep will usually restore his natural vigor 
before the strain of adolescence touches him. 

With the Junior the activities tend toward constructiveness. 
It is the age of the tool box and the workshop, the age when 
the yard is lined with railroad tracks and telephone lines, 
when the girl begins to make cookies, and the doll clothes are 

1 "Health is almost at its best, activity is greater and more varied 
than it ever was before or ever will be again, and there is peculiar en- 
durance, vitality, and resistance to fatigue." — G. Stanley Hall, "Youth," 
p. i." 



JUNIOR CHARACTERISTICS 31 

constructed according to the latest models. It is the time 
when the heart of many a parent swells with pride as he 
becomes confirmed in his conviction that John's unusual 
"knack of making things" can only mean that he is going to 
be a great inventor. But the energy of this age is not con- 
fined to construction alone. It must have opportunity to ex- 
pend itself in feats of strength and prowess. Almost every 
normal boy of this age comes perilously near being a hoodlum 
and every girl a torn boy. Running, climbing, wrestling, In- 
dian warfare, football, and pastimes requiring skill of fingers, 
all are needed to form the natural outlets for the energy and 
noise of this age. 

2. Mental Characteristics. The age of nine marks ap- 
proximately the time when the mind, heretofore retentive, be- 
gins to display what may be called active memory, or ability to 
recall what is retained. The memory is likely 
vciopment to ^ e "verbal, mechanical, and abstract." Reach- 
ing out after knowledge becomes more marked. 
Interests are likely to center in inventions, the factory, active 
games, and such sports as hunting, trapping, and fishing. 
Social interests now begin to develop, showing themselves 
in the tendency to form groups and "gangs," and in organiza- 
tion and team movement in games. 

The curiosity of the Junior age is still a desire to know 
and the open gateway for instruction; but, like the activity, it 
takes on a new form and the Junior not only wants to know 
"What?" but "Why?" The infant listens with delight to 
Curiosity the ticking of the watch placed to his ear; the 
Primary child "wants to see the wheels go 
round," but the Junior must tajce the watch to pieces to see 
why — what makes the wheels go. He must see into the bird's 
nest, and know how the bees make honey. It is the time 
when clocks and clothes wringers are in danger. 

This same impulse to investigate, to find out for himself 
the reality of things, makes of him an extreme literalist. If 
he has measured the front porch, and it is twelve feet and 

3 i 



32 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

half an inch long, it is twelve feet and one-half inch long, 
and any one who states that it is twelve feet long is mistaken. 
Herein lies a great opportunity: that of cultivating this sense 
of literalness into a habit of strict and unswerving honesty. 
"I read six books last week; how many did you read?" 
is not an uncommon remark with Juniors. Ask the Sunday- 
school librarian which department in the Sunday-school makes 
the largest use of the library, and a frequent answer will 

_ ,. _ be "The Juniors." Go into the public library and 

Jjeiignt in 

Reading spend a few hours, and the proportion of Juniors 

calling for books may surprise you. "History, 
descriptive narrative, stories of pioneering, hunting, adven- 
ture, invention, trading, and the like are eagerly read. Travel 
has little interest, while poetry and fiction have varying 
charm." (Haslett.) Boys and girls of this age must read. 
They will read. While they have their preferences, if they 
can not find what they like they will read what they can find 
and everything they can find. In his reading many a boy 
finds his hero, his ideal of life. 

In the large majority of cases of boys and girls who have 
run away from home the cause may be found in the stories 
of the great prosperity of certain runaway boys, or the ro- 
mantic adventures of runaway girls. In the juvenile courts 
many petty thefts, incendiary fires, and cases of vandalism 
are directly traceable to the books read. Not less is it true- 
that many wayward girls are led to rebel against home influ- 
ence and authority by the stories of girls who were so superior 
to their parents that their disobedience was made to seem 
commendable, while the young folks* stories of parents who 
have made mistakes in their dealings with their children do 
not increase the respect of boyhood and girlhood for parents 
or home training. On the other hand, good stories have been 
the means of giving a purpose and aim to many lives. Some 
of the greatest missionaries of to-day date their interest in the 
work from the reading of a missionary story. Leaders in the 
various professions have been similarly influenced, and the 



JUNIOR CHARACTERISTICS 33 

lives of untold numbers of men and women have been made 
sweeter and better by the reading of good stories. 

At a gathering of adults each was called upon to perform 
some "stunt." Several recited long poems or orations; oth- 
ers begged to be excused, saying they could not remember 
anything. In the conversation which followed it was discov- 

k - ered that every recitation of any length was one 

Ability to , 111 • , • , , 1 

Memorize tnat nac * ^ een memorized in boyhood or girl- 
hood. This incident can be verified by every 
adult. There seems to be little limit to the amount some 
can memorize, and the rapidity with which this is accom- 
plished is a constant surprise. It is nature's golden opportu- 
nity for treasuring up the sunshine of literature and God's 
Word where it may glow and give warmth throughout life. 
It is the time for safeguarding the life against many tempta- 
tions by garrisoning it with the admonitions, commands, and 
promises of God. To form the habit of memorizing will ex- 
tend this memory age on into the years, even though the te- 
nacity of the memory be decreased and its power diminished. 
To waste this opportunity is to deprive the youth of his birth- 
right. 

As the boys and girls can now distinguish between fact 
and fancy, the imagination comes under the control of the 
mind. They no longer live so completely in the make-believe 
Imagination WOI "ld of younger childhood, yet they have suffi- 
cient imagination to make very real the stories 
which they read or hear. It is through the power of imag- 
ination, also, that they are able to put themselves in the place 
of the heroes or heroines whom they admire. Many air 
castles are built, and in fancy they picture what they are go- 
ing to do when they are grown up. 

The powers of reasoning are beginning to be manifest. 

The Junior has a rapidly increasing knowledge of facts, and 

Reasoning begins to compare, to discriminate, and to draw 

inferences. He is unable to do much with the 

abstract, but delights in exercising these new powers of his 

4 



34 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

mind on the concrete. Puzzles, riddles, conundrums, and 
guessing games are in great demand. 

The beginnings of independent thought lead to a desire for 
independent action. This seems to come much more quickly 
to some children than to others. Where decisions or choices 
must be overruled, reason though only slightly developed 
should be appealed to. Hand in hand with this independence 
of thought comes a susceptibility to influence so marked that 
this age is usually termed the fruitful age: as boys and girls 
may be led almost as one desires if rightly approached. 1 

3. Religious Characteristics. The religious life of the 
Junior will depend in a large measure upon the surroundings 
and instruction of earlier years. In a great many instances 
there comes a desire to confess Christ. During the latter 
part of the period questions and doubts may begin to arise. 
Careful nurture is needed to foster and encourage the high- 
est aspirations, to teach God's law, and to assist the boys and 
girls in making right choices. 

Above all it is evident that the Junior's religion is not 
that of an adult. 

The Junior worships. He can not help worshiping; but 
whom does he worship? Primarily an ideal, which might be 
termed ability, but this ideal is always embodied in a personal- 
ity, and his hero to whom he pays adoring homage is the man 
or woman who stands to him as the person who can do the 
thing he longs to do. Our great obligation to the Junior is to 
so live and represent Christ that He may be the Hero of every 
boy and girl in the Junior Department. 

Closely allied to the energy which seems to be the especial 
endowment of the Junior lies the worship of strength and 
power in any form; the adoration of the hero or the victor, 
and contempt for one who falls below the standard. A 

1 Cf. Hall: "Insight, understanding, interest, sentiment, are for the 
most part only nascent; and most that pertains to the true kingdom of 
mature manhood is embryonic. . . . The senses are keen and alert, re- 
actions immediate and vigorous, and the memory is sure, quick, and last- 
ing; and ideas of space, time, physical causation, and of many a moral 
and social licit and nonlicit, are rapidly unfolding." — "Youth," p. 4. 

4 



JUNIOR CHARACTERISTICS 35 

boy of eleven at a summer resort had treated a certain young 
woman in the hotel with but moderate respect. One day it 
chanced that they went rowing together. The lad, 
Worship "unaccustomed to handling the oars, was surprised 
to see his companion row with ease for two hours. 
He made no remarks, but a very noticeable change in his attitude 
toward her was at once apparent. The railway engineer is 
likely to hold a prominent place in the boy's admiration on ac- 
count of the suggestion of both power and danger. To-day 
he is likely to find a rival in the professional baseball and 
football player. The soldier is a fluctuating choice, dependent 
in part on the conditions of peace or war in the world, and 
the consequent supply or dearth of soldier material in the 
daily papers. 

But what of the girl? Her heroine is usually found nearer 
home, and is likely to be the laundress, "who is so strong she 
can do anything," the sister or neighbor who plays tennis or 
basket ball, the trapeze performer, or the "flying lady" de- 
picted on the billboard. She reads from choice, and a wise 
choice, too, the same books as her brother, and longs to be a 
boy that she too may be a great general or hunt Indians ; or 
she plans to show the world that a girl may be just as strong 
and brave as a boy. 

Thus such doubtful heroes as the prizefighter, the cowboy, 
or the pirate often hold a supreme place in the thought and 
affections of this age, but the Junior will regard with equal 
adoration the Knights of Arthur's Round Table, or the heroes 
of ancient Greece, if they are brought to him ; and the imper- 
sonating of Sir Galahad or Launcelot is quite as fascinating as 
"playing Indian or cowboy." 

So the deeds of holy daring and courage of the early 
Biblical heroes, and the heroic element in the lives of Christ, 
His apostles, and Christian leaders of later centuries furnish 
material of the best sort on which this instinct may feed and 
thrive. 



36 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

Lesson Outline: 

I. General. 
II. Specific. 

i. Physical characteristics. 

2. Mental characteristics. 

3. Religious characteristics. 

Topics for Special Study: 

1. The psychology of the Junior age. 

2. The books which Juniors read. 

Topics for Class Discussion: 

1. The influence of hero worship in the formation of 

character. 

2. The susceptibility of the Junior to influence. 

3. How account for the physical energy manifested by 

the Junior? 

4. What are some of the different ways in which en- 

ergy is shown in this period? 

5. Describe the mental characteristics of the period. 

6. What is to be said of the religious life of the Juniors ? 



CHAPTER III 
JUNIOR INTERESTS 

It will be profitable for us to carry our study of the Junior 
a step farther by noting some of the ways in which the char- 
acteristics described in the last chapter manifest themselves in 
the every-day life of the boy and girl. 

I. Play and Work 

It has been said that a Junior, if it were possible, would 
play twenty hours out of the twenty-four. True it is that 
never yet was found a Junior who had all the time he 
wanted to play, for it is through play that he finds the outlet 
for his pent-up energy. It is frequently affirmed that no one 
of this age ever likes to work; and yet, is there any one 
who works harder than do these very boys and girls if that 
work is a part of a game? 

The games and plays of this age are open pages of Junior 

life. No longer does one find aimless running hither and 

thither; every game has its definite purpose. The players 

have an end in view, and that end is victory. 
Games of ,_, . . , * , _ . 

Competition The very instinct that leads a Junior to measure 

his strength with every obstacle makes the com- 
petitive game one of great favor. The games played are often 
rough — almost violent; for into them must go the superabun- 
dant physical energy. 

"There is no permanent organization — the ball team is im- 
provised for the occasion, and disbanded as easily as formed. 
The play is individual; each one is for himself. Team play, 
permanent gang organization, sacrifice plays, and the like are 
for the next period in the boy's life. The boy throws his 
whole body and soul into the play, and he reveals himself com- 
pletely. Often a teacher may learn more of her pupil by 

37 * 



38 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

watching him play in the yard for ten minutes than she could 
have learned by studying him jn the school for ten days." 
(Pattee.) The instinct of hero worship gives to the games 
of the older boys and girls a peculiar attraction, and we find 
the tendency to imitation strongly marked. 

With girls this is the age when it is a great delight to wear 
mother's dress, arrange the hair in the mode of the older sis- 
ter, don a big hat, and start out with card-case 

Games of 

imitation an( * P ar ^sol to make calls. This same tendency 
shows itself with the boys in the desire to wear 
buttons, badges, and pins. 

Not less attractive are the games which call for the im- 
personation of the knights and heroes of other days, and the 
boy who is impersonating Launcelot, Sir Galahad, Gawain, or 
Sir Roland, feels a measure of increased self-respect that will 
not permit of certain little meannesses. For the time at least 
he must live up to his name. 

The constructive play is not less in its importance, but 
the great pleasure in this line lies in the construction, not 
the end. Days will be spent in the making of an ice-boat, 
which, finished, loses its interest in a few hours. 
Play ' Hours will be spent in fashioning the most elab- 

orate costumes for dolls which will only be laid 
aside "to play with some other day ;" or dolls will be dressed in 
most fantastic attire, only to be undressed and dressed again. 
Whether they "just hate to work" or "like to do things" 
depends upon the way in which the tasks are assigned. There 
Play Tasks * s mucn work that can be done in the form oi 
play, and if tasks are assigned as play a keen 
interest will be taken in their performance. The Juniors are 
eager to assume responsibility, and if they are made partners 
in an enterprise their interest will be as keen as in play. 1 



1 "Play in its usual forms is manifestly impossible in the Sunday- 
school room, but the spirit of play is not. There may be rivalry in find- 
ing books of the Bible or specified verses; there may be competition as 
to who shall tell the story most accurately; and there may be constant 
drawing upon the details of play to illustrate points in the lesson and to 
teach fundamental ideals of justice and obedience and love." — Pattee, 
"Elements of Religious Pedagogy," p. 58. 



JUNIOR INTERESTS 39 

II. Reading 

Go with a Junior, to a bookstore. Watch him. He walks 

past the shelf marked poetry, past biographies unless 

^ , he has before been introduced to them; the his- 

Choice of . ■ . . , M 

Books tones draw his attention, but he passes on until 

the titles suggest that he has found stories of ad- 
venture, stories of valor or conquest. Here he pauses. He 
opens the book and looks at the pictures. If these depict 
fighting Indians, fierce animals, boys in a boat, camping, or 
in fact anything that in his language suggests that "things 
are doing," he is soon lost in it; otherwise it is laid aside. 

His acquaintance with people is not very large; those that 
he does know are just common-place, ordinary folks, and as 
a rule he does not travel much. His view of life and the 
world outside his limited vision must come from his reading. 
His ideals of manhood and womanhood, of the citizen and of 
the Christian, of his relations to his neighbor and to the 
world at large, of his responsibility to the State and Nation, 
and his duty to his parents are all being shaped and molded 
by the papers and magazines that come into the home, and 
by the books he reads; and he reads from cover to cover. 
Every advertisement comes in as part of the formative ma- 
terial in the development of character. 

III. Gangs 

The Junior's social feelings are rapidly developing. The 
companions at school or in the neighborhood form them- 
selves into bands, cliques, or clubs. Sometimes there is a 
"regular organization, sometimes only the coming together 
for play and for "doing things." 

The Junior age is the one that may be termed the period 
of sex antagonism. The boys of this age are inclined to look 
t with contempt upon the girls, partly because un- 

fcntagonitm w * se custom has determined that girls shall be 
less free in the out-of-door activities, and con- 
sequently less firm of muscle and lithe of limb than the boys. 



40 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

Many times the only visible sign of this feeling is the abso- 
lute necessity which a boy feels to "show off" — to do some 
remarkable stunt if there is a girl in sight. The girl, on the 
other hand, must of necessity scorn to recognize any super- 
iority in the boy, even though she secretly admires his prow- 
ess and envies his ability. 

Each child craves the companionship of others of the 
same age and sex. The desire is so strong that it is sure 
to find satisfaction in some way. "The dangers and oppor- 
tunities growing out of this strong tendency toward a segre- 
gation can not be over-estimated." The "gang" may be in- 
terested in games and reading within the home instead of 
being allowed to invent its own entertainment in street, alley, 

or barn. Undisciplined and unwatched, it is al- 
the Gang most sure to form dark plots and plans which 

only await the larger freedom of youth to issue 
in evil deeds and even crimes. Guarded by the watchful 
oversight of parent or teacher, its activities directed, it may 
become a means of individual development in sympathy, 
kindness, and good fellowship, and an agency of real social 
service. 

What the other boys and girls are doing and saying has a 
very keen interest for Juniors. They take a frequent inven- 
tory of each other's possessions and principles, and parents often 
hear that "Arthur is allowed to do that, and I do n't see why I 

can not," or "Helen has one, and I want one too." 
Thelnflu- Whether at play, at work, or at school the com- 
Companiom panions of the Junior have a powerful influence. 

In every group or class there are leaders whom 
the others will follow and imitate. A move into a new neigh- 
borhood and a change of companions often makes a great 
change in the conduct and ideals of a boy or girl. It is diffi- 
cult to get very well acquainted with a Junior until one knows 
something of his favorite playmates and companions. 

IV. Collections 

The instinct of accumulation develops rapidly during this 



JUNIOR INTERESTS 41 

period. The Juniors desire to own things. Within the period 
"collections reach their height in quantity and genuineness." 
Collections of almost every description are made, and the 
Acquisition desire to excel lends zest and interest and may 
well suggest to Sunday-school teachers the wis- 
dom of utilizing this instinct in the securing of pictures for 
illustrative work, or curios and pictures for the missionary 
cabinet. Biblical illustrative material of much value may be 
collected, and a keen zest maintained throughout the task. 

V. Out-Door Life 

As the years bounding early childhood have passed, and boys 
and girls become Juniors, they seem to enter upon a stage ap- 
proximating that of the human race in an early stage of its 
development. As the savage grows and strengthens through 
life in the open, so the boy thrives, expands, and develops 
normally in the great world of God's out-of-doors. At this 
age when he needs a full half acre of ground in which 
to turn round, and the great dome of the heavens is the only 
auditorium spacious enough to accommodate his voice, he 
finds his hours in the school room lengthened, and these aug- 
mented by hours of home study or of practice on the piano 
or in some other special line, and then one questions why he 
is irritable, restive, and utterly lawless. A girl of ten came 
into the house one afternoon remarking, "I just 
Frciout'of must scream! " Her mother replied, "Well, go 
Door Life out m tne ^ ac ^ var d and scream just as loud as 
you want to," and she did. Another mother 
said: "My eleven-year-old boy came home from school the 
other day. He threw the door open with a bang, stamped 
across the room, through the house and up stairs, went into 
every room, then down stairs and out again, yelling at the 
top of his voice at every step." Why? For the sheer de- 
light of making a noise and as a means of "letting off steam." 

A mother recently in great distress appealed to a friend 
for advice concerning her ten-year-old boy. She said, "He 



42 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

is cross, irritable, and restless, and I can not interest him in 
anything." The first inquiry was as to his health. Being 
satisfied that the trouble did not lie there, the following con- 
versation took place: "Where do you live: in what kind of 
a house?" "A third flat in a downtown district, but a very 
nice neighborhood." "Have you a room in the basement 
that John can call his own?" "O no, we have no basement 
at all." "Have you a back porch?" "No." "Can you use 
the roof of the building?" "O no!" "Where, then, does 
John go when he just must shout at the top of his voice?" 
"O, he never does that! He must not make any noise or he 
will disturb people in the other flats." "What has he to play 
with?" "O, I get every game I can find. He has a whole 
drawer full, and I play with him when I can get him to play." 
"What games for instance?" "Bunco, Flinch, Authors, a 
Flag game, and many others." "Has he a set of tools?" 
"They make too much dirt for the house." "Has he any 
mechanical toys?" "They are too noisy." "Does he care 
for out-of-door sports?" "Yes, he loves to be out of doors. 
I do let him go down to the sidewalk once in a while, but I 
can not allow him to play in the streets. And then when he 
does get out he often runs round the block twice without 
stopping, and when he comes in he is so noisy and boister- 
ous I do not know what to do with him." "Do his com- 
panions come to your home to play with him?" "No-o, he 
has his friends at school but I do not like to have him play 
with other children. I do not know what they will teach 
him." 

Poor boy! An extreme case? Possibly, yes; but a true 
one, and in one form or another true of many boys and girls 
in so-called better homes. 

Restraint there must be, but a restraint that manifests it- 
self in the direction of the activities rather than in their re- 
pression. Out-of-door life, freedom for the expression of the 
effervescing energy, in both noise and activity, opportunity 
for the exercise of the developing muscles and brain in di- 



JUNIOR INTERESTS 43 

rected activities are the open sesame to normal, happy, grow- 
ing later childhood. The Sunday-school teacher who can 
join his class in picnics, excursions to park and forest and 
field, bringing them into nearer fellowship with birds and 
trees and flowers, will not only be ministering to an elemental 
need of their natures, but will by so doing enter into their 
lives to an extent not otherwise possible. 

VI. The Significance of Characteristics in Char- 
acter Development 

What possibilities of development inhere in the character- 
istics of the Junior! Could this be considered on only one 
side, it would furnish a very fruitful subject, but one can not 
stop there. Considered on both sides it is freighted with the 
weightiest significance. Range even the outstanding and 
most important characteristics in line, and look at first one 
side, then the other. 

Activity — undirected: roughness, hoodlumism, vandalism, 
brutality, crime; directed: strength, health, athletics, inven- 
tion, manliness, character. Hero worship — unguided: ad- 
miration of brute force, lawlessness, disrespect of 
Po L s ibilities parents, irreverence for things holy, formation of 

of Devel- F ., , ' , , . . . « , , « , 

opment evl * naDlt s, l° w ambition, ideals that degrade, taste 

for pernicious literature, cigarette smoking, 
drunkenness. Hero worship — guided: high ideals, emula- 
tion of noble characters, formation of right habits through 
emulation, pure thoughts, the formation of a taste for good 
literature, a spirit of reverence, and the development of a 
strong character. 

The same soil may yield the bitterest herb or the sweetest 
flowers. The same characteristics may, nay, must build or 
undermine character. The Junior age is not alone the time 
for the formation of habits of action, but of thought. The 
whole mental life of a man is being determined in the brain 
of that boy, and as a man thinketh in his heart so is he. He 
may be forming the habit of thinking clearly, quickly, and 



44 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

accurately, or of simply letting his mind wander, calling it to 
a halt when something demands his attention. He may be 
making his mind his servant, or he may be becoming its slave 
and thus putting himself in the power of every temptation. 
The formation of right habits of action, important as this is, 
must take a second place to the formation of right habits of 
thought. 

Literalism, as has been suggested, may be developed into 
a keen sense of honesty and strong adherence to the truth, 
or it may develop into undue attention to petty details, self- 
righteousness, or arrogance. It may develop into a recogni- 
tion of the high and the noble in others, and into an emula- 
tion of those virtues, or into a contempt for the failures of 
others that will result in bitterness, pessimism, and distrust. 

The play instinct may make the hard-working, light- 
hearted, cheerful being who makes the best of everything 
and always has a good time, or it may make the idle, shift- 
less tramp. 

The instinct of emulation may lead to such a desire for 
pre-eminence that truth, honor, friends, even character must 
yield to it, or it may place one in the front ranks in his school 
life, make of him the steady plodder but constant climber 
in business, respected by friends and honored by all. 

These characteristics are vitally connected with every 
phase of the life of the boys and girls of to-day who a,re to be 
the men and women of to-morrow. 

Lesson Outline: 

I. Play and Work. 
II. Reading. 

III. Gangs. 

IV. Collections. 

V. Out- Door Life. 

VI. The Significance of Characteristics in Charac- 
ter Development. 

4 



JUNIOR INTERESTS 45 

Topic for Special Study: 

i. The relation of interest to education. 

Topics for Class Discussion: 

1. Describe the play of Juniors. 

2. What kind of reading is the Junior likely to choose? 

3. What is the importance of his reading? 

4. Why should attention be given to the choice of com- 

panions ? 

5. How may the instinct of acquisition be utilized? 

6. Why should out-door life be encouraged? 

7. Why is it important that Junior characteristics be 

known and attention given to their development? 



CHAPTER IV. 
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL AND THE JUNIOR 

After studying some of the characteristics, interests, and 
needs of the Juniors we turn to the Sunday-school to con- 
sider next, in a somewhat general way, what this institution 
may be expected to do for these boys and girls, and the 
means by which it is to be done. 

I. What the School Is to Do 

i. Some deficient answers. What is the place of the 
Sunday-school in the life of the child? Ask this question of 
the average parent, and in many cases, if the parents are 
honest, the reply will be, "It is a place to keep him out of 
mischief for an hour or two on Sunday," or, "It gives him 
something to do on Sunday," or even as one parent said, "At- 
tendance at Sunday-school gives a child an air of respectabil- 
ity." A large number would reply, "Sunday-school is the 
place where the children study their Sunday-school lessons." 
Alas ! in the majority of cases this is too true, for few do 
any studying outside of the Sunday-school hour. 

In the eyes of the Church the Sunday-school is the Bible 
school of the Church, where Bible instruction is given by the 
most competent teachers that can be secured, according to 
prescribed methods. 

To the average child, Sunday-school is either a place 
where he must spend an hour on Sunday because his parents 
insist, or a place where he delights to go because there he 
finds his teacher, hears fine stories, or has such a good time. 
Some children will say it is where they learn about Jesus; 
« 46 * 



THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL AND THE JUNIOR 4 7 

but the child less than the parent realizes what the Sunday- 
school is really intended to do for him. 

Ask a group of Junior teachers what their ideal of a 
Junior Department is, and you may know largely what that 
department is accomplishing before entering the room. The 
ideal of one may be every pupil in his place on time, and you 
will find a full class but perhaps little else. The ideal of an- 
other may be perfect order, and you will find an orderly 
class ; another may have as his purpose perfection in mem- 
ory work, and his class will lead in the number of verses com- 
mitted to memory. Or yon may find a teacher with a very 
undefined idea, who when pressed as to her purpose as a Sun- 
day-school teacher can give only a very hazy and indefinite 
answer; you will find a class irregular in attendance, spas- 
modic in interest, and the results as hazy as the purpose. If 
then the result is dependent on the purpose or ideal, it mat- 
ters much what that purpose is. 

What should be the purpose of every Junior Department? 
Order? Yes, order is essential, but not the highest purpose. 
Regular and prompt attendance? These are essential, but 
not the all-essential. Attention and interest? Absolutely 
necessary, but they are the means not the end. The teaching 
of the lesson so that the boys and girls may give intelligent 
answers? Or the committing of large portions of the Scrip- 
ture to memory? Each in itself invaluable, but not the pur- 
pose. 

2. The sufficient answer. What, then, is a true and 
worthy estimate of what the Sunday-school is to do for the 
Junior child? For all children it should be the place where 
they become more fully acquainted with God, where their 
religious natures are nurtured and developed, 
Estimate where they learn to study and love God's Word, 
the great truths of the Bible being so brought in 
touch with their lives that they enter into and become a part 
of them, and where each one definitely avows submission 
and obedience to the leadership of Christ. Like the great 

4 



4 8 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

converters of the steel mills, in which the various ingredients 
are brought together and the finished product is steel of 
various grades, so the Sunday-school gathers together not 
only the children but the life-giving truths of Christianity, 
and sends forth as its product Christian boys and girls. 

II. How It Is to Be Done 

i. Meeting the child on his own plane. The only means 
by which such a result can be attained is by taking the child 
where he is and fitting the truth to the developing charac- 
teristics of each year, thus directing the development. In 
this, as we have pointed out, is the significance of graded in- 
struction. For example, if we begin with the frequently men- 
tioned characteristic of energy, and follow on considering 
the characteristics of the Junior age, we will see that there 
is not one but that affords a way by which the child may be 
touched by the Sunday-school, nay, more, not one but must 
be touched by the Sunday-school with the spirit and truth 
of Christ if the strongest character is to be developed. The 
Sunday-school is one of the appointed agencies for touching 
boy and girl life at every point, and standing to that life as 
the training team stands to the athlete. It touches his ener- 
gies and the boy discovers that physical strength aids in 
building a strong mind and a strong character; that that 
body must be kept pure and free from evil habits, if it is to 
continue strong, and that even physical strength itself is to 
be consecrated to high and holy service. 

2. The influence of personality. The Sunday-school in 
its personnel of officers and teachers stands to the Junior for 
Christianity. One of the first essentials in a teacher of 
Juniors is "a personality that shall meet the conditions of 
hero worship." 

If the boy comes into the school week after week and 
finds the Junior teaching force nine-tenths women, he soon 
forms the opinion that Christianity is a fine thing for women 
and girls but unnecessary for men, and his teacher notices 

i 



THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL AND THE JUNIOR 49 

an unaccountable restlessness and irregularity in attend- 
ance. Later, he is very likely to join the "three out of five" 
who drop out of Sunday-school and are lost to the Church 
and Christ. If, on the other hand, he sees in 
en as ^ e Sunday-school the men who stand to him 

of Boys f° r *h at which is worth while, successful busi- 

ness men, strong manly men, he unconsciously 
straightens up as he walks into Sunday-school beside one 
of them, and realizes a feeling of pride in belonging to the 
same organization. 1 

In these days of much discussion of the "boy problem/' 
we must not forget that there is also a girl problem. It is 
not enough to have the girls present in the Sunday-school 
and Church services, but they, too, need to come in close 
touch with the personality of fine noble women whom they 
will admire and imitate. 

Possibly the Junior Department has no more important 
function aside from its first great purpose, than that of im- 
pressing the manliness and womanliness of Christianity. The 
Junior has a growing contempt for things child- 
*? . f ish, which term includes anything and everything 
Christianity related to the Primary Department. This attitude, 
while not so apparent in the first and sometimes the 
second year of the Junior Department, is strongly manifest 
during the later years. This is the age when a boy is "too 
old to carry a Bible to Sunday-school," and when his respect 
for that organization is greatly increased if his penny gives 
place to the nickel. There is probably no other period when 
strong manly men and womanly women have the influence 
that they possess at this time. 

3. The investment of time and interest. A strong and 
noble personality, while indispensable, is not enough in itself. 
It must be made doubly effective by being brought into fre- 



1 "Some day the Church will give to every boys' class in this and 
succeeding periods a trained Christian man to be hero first and then 
teacher, for no boy aspires to be like a woman, no matter how much he 
may love her." — Lamoreaux, "The Unfolding Life," p. 147. 



50 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

quent contact with the pupils, and by going out to them in 
sympathetic interest. The teacher's influence can be dou- 
bled, yes, trebled or even quadrupled, by week-day meetings 
with the members of the class. 1 If he is so situated that it is 
possible to bring the class together in his own home occa- 
sionally, and also meet them in their homes, he will not only 
be making use of the power of association to increase his in- 
fluence, but will also be forming an acquaintanceship with 
them not otherwise possible, which will greatly assist him to 
teach intelligently, as well as forging a bond of friendship 
which will be an additional aid of unmeasured value. It 
must be borne in mind that the teaching of religion in terms 
of words and ideas is always more or less vague; in terms 
of a beautiful and noble character it becomes concrete. Presi- 
dent H. C. King, a prominent educator of our times, con- 
stantly emphasizes this. A characteristic statement from him 
is, "I would not decry teaching, but I would emphasize that 
no teaching of morals and noble ideals by precept is quite 
equal in effect and influence to the bringing of a surrendered 
personality into touch with a truly noble Christian soul." 
"In this is to be found an explanation of the effectiveness of 
many teachers whose knowledge of the Bible is deficient, and 
who sadly lack training in methods and principles of teach- 
ing, but who do possess a vital religious life and show forth 
the graces of a true Christian character. Handicapped as 
they are by their lack, yet they are valuable and successful 
workers because of their rich influence upon the boys and 
girls with whom they bring themselves into close association 
from week to week. 'The most conserving and inspiring of 
all influences is love for a holy person/ " 

4. Instruction. The wise Junior teacher realizes that 

1 Cf. Lamoreaux: "Discipline of these independent, outspoken boys 
and girls is easy if the teacher will only lay hold of the heart instead of 
the coat collar; but, alas! the latter method takes less time. The world 
holds nothing truer or sweeter than the love of a child of this age, free 
as it is from all affectation and policy, and it is there in every heart, 
awaiting the touch of the teacher who can find the hidden spring. The 
contact on Sunday is not sufficient, however, to reveal it." — '"The Un- 
folding Life," p. 148. 4 



THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL AND THE JUNIOR 51 

songs, prayers, and various exercises of the Sunday-school 
session all have a distinct teaching value, and plans carefully 
for each. But the supreme service of the hour comes in the 
presentation of the lesson. There as the Scriptures are 
studied, the lesson stories told, and questions asked and an- 
swered, the pupils are led step by step to a stronger grasp of 
great religious truths and to a more devoted following of the 
Master. The teachings given in the Primary Department 
take on new meaning when presented again in the light of 
the Junior's intelligence. The wonderful Book has messages 
for the boys and girls as well as for adults, and the lessons 
learned during this period have a two-fold value. They are 
food for the present-day needs, and also a preparation for the 
future. Care should be taken to make the work as thorough 
as possible. If facts are to be presented they should be 
clearly understood by all. If Scripture passages or hymns 
are to be memorized, they should be drilled upon until they 
can not be forgotten. If great truths and principles are dis- 
cussed, then frequent reference to them should be made as 
new lessons come which illustrate these truths. A few 
things well taught and understood mean vastly more than a 
great mass of confused facts and fancies. 1 

5. Training in service. The religion of boyhood and 
girlhood is largely a religion of activity. The boy has not 
yet passed the point where he "does first and believes after- 
ward," and the natural inference is that this is the age to 
form the habit of service by training in Christian activities. 
There are many little duties in the school which can be per- 
formed by the Juniors and they delight in being helpers. The 
Messenger Service organized in many Sunday-schools is 
most excellent in principle, as it forms the habit of being 
"hewers of wood and drawers of water" in God's service. 



1 Cf. Hall: "It is the age of external and mechanical training. Read- 
ing, writing, drawing, manual training, musical technic, foreign tongues 
and their pronunciation, the manipulation of numbers and of geometrical 
elements, and many kinds of skill have now their golden hour; and if 
it passes unimproved, all these can never be acquired later without a 
heavy handicap of disadvantage and loss," — "Youth," p. 5. 

4 



52 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

It is a great thing to know how to set other people to 
work. One Sunday-school superintendent was heard com- 
plaining of his many burdens. He had been in office for six- 
teen years, and had devoted much time to the work. The 
visitor in his school was greatly impressed with his faithful- 
ness but doubted the wisdom of his methods. The good man 
tried to do everything himself. He arranged the chairs, 
passed the books, led the singing, read the lesson, made the 
prayer, hunted up suitable teachers. Indeed, so rushed was 
he during every minute of the session that it is no wonder 
he found the work a burden. During all the years he had 
never tried to train workers. As the visitor looked about 
the school he saw a class of bright-faced Juniors, and knew 
that they would have been delighted to have passed the sing- 
ing books and arranged the chairs, if they had been asked to do 
so. By beginning with such small things and then gradually 
increasing responsibility, competent workers are developed. 1 

The question is frequently raised, "Why do so many 
young people leave the Sunday-school?" A careful study of 
the subject shows that one of the causes of the exodus is that 
these young people have not been trained for service, and 
then given some work to do. 

This is the time to form the habit of enthusiastic interest 
in the great benevolent enterprises of the Church, and as in- 
Giving terest grows by activity, it is also the time to 
form the habit of giving for these interests. The 
unavoidable outgrowth of this must be the formation of the 
habit of systematic giving. 



** "If the pupils are to be trained for Christian service they must early 
begin to do that service. . . . The service a pupil renders by way of 
work as usher, assistant secretary, sick visitor, monitor,* page, musician 
in the orchestra, while worth much to the school, means even more to 
him. It is the most valuable part of his religious education. . . . 
We will no longer hear the complaint that there is a lack of men seeking 
the ministry if the pupils begin their ministry with their studies and de- 
velop it naturally with their developing lives; this also will be true in 
regard to all the offices of the Church. The pupils must learn by doing, 
entering into knowledge by the door the Master pointed out, 'If any man 
willeth to do His will, he shall know of the doctrine.' " — Cope, "The 
Modern Sunday-school in Principle and Practice," p. 122. 

4 



THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL AND THE JUNIOR 53 

In regard to the question of social life and amusements, 
in this the Junior Department of the Sunday-school may play 
an important part through indirect teaching and by keeping 

ideals of wholesome fun, enjoyment, and social 
Pleasures ^ e before them in such a way as to give honest 

and pure sports the paramount interest which 
they naturally have for boys and which they may have for 
girls. 

The development of the social instinct gives to the Junior 
teacher the opportunity to cultivate a sense of ownership in 
Ownership ^ e Sunday-school that is a strong factor in 

holding the pupils to the school when a feeling 
of restlessness seizes them. The esprit de corps of both 
school and class should be strengthened as far as possible. 
As has been said in the preceding chapter, it is the age of 
"belonging;" it should no longer be, if it ever has been, The 
Sunday-school, but Our Sunday-school, our books, our li- 
brary, our officers. When matters of special importance to 
the school or department come up, give the boys and girls a 
part in them; if there is a special cause for anxiety, let them 
share it that they may feel that they are needed; that it is in- 
deed their school. 

Lesson Outline: 

I. What the School Is to Do. 
i. Some deficient answers. 
2. The sufficient answer. 

II. How It Is to Be Done. 

i. Meeting the child on his own plane. 

2. The influence of personality. 

$. The investment of time and interest. 

4. Instruction. 

5. Training in service. 

Topic for Special Study: 

1. The place of influence in elementary education. 

4 



54 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

Topics for Class Discussion: 

1. What are some of the ideas commonly held as to the 

purpose of the Sunday-school? 

2. What is the Sunday-school to do for the Junior? 

3. What is the importance of suiting instruction to the 

stage of development of the child? 

4. What part does personal influence play in the work 

of the Sunday-school? 

5. Should a teacher meet his class during the week? 

6. To what extent is the work of the school one of 

instruction ? 

7. How may the Juniors be trained for future service? 



CHAPTER V 
ORGANIZATION 

Organization and system are terms that have come to 
be almost synonymous, and the two S's, system and success, 
are so closely interlinked as to be interdependent. Of a 
truth, there can be little success without system. Of the 
necessity of a general organization, therefore, there can be 
little question. 

I. The Graded School 

If organization implies system, system none the less de- 
mands regulations dependent upon certain likenesses. A 
business that is systematized groups in certain departments 
lines of work that must be handled in general in the same 
way; these departments in turn are placed in the hands of 
people especially qualified for these lines of work. In a 
home in which there are children of different 
Recognized a £ es > where the work must be done by the fam- 
ily, the work will be divided, certain portions to 
be done by different members at different times; but in this 
division the work required is adapted to the ability of the 
one selected to perform it. To-day in our secular schools 
this systematizing or grading has advanced from the old 
method of the district school, where the nearest approach to 
grading was that when a pupil had completed one book he 
was advanced to another, to the close and complete grading 
of our public school system extending from the kindergarten 
through the university. 

The Church has been slower in recognizing the need and 
wisdom of grading. The old adage that "Grandfather's re- 

55 * 



56 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

ligion is good enough for any one" for a time blinded our 
eyes to the fact that as grandfather's coat, which was good 
enough for any one, needed to be cut over and refitted be- 
fore it could be worn by Tom or Jim, so an organization fitted 
for adults needed to be adapted to the mental and spiritual 
capacity of Mary and Frank. 

For some years an attempt has been made at a general 
grading, and in the majority of schools in the past two dec- 
ades the Primary Department has been separated from the 
main school, even in cases where all must meet in one room 
and be seated in the regular immovable church 
^ arly pews. The necessity for a separate room and 

Attempts ,.„ 11/ « -r-k • t^ 

at Grading different methods for the Primary Department 
has long been recognized. As this need has been 
met to an increasing extent it has served to strengthen the 
conviction that a more perfect grading was necessary to the 
best work in behalf of growing boys and girls. 

Thus the subject of grading has come to be uppermost 
in the minds of Sunday-school leaders in recent years, and 
the result of counsel, deliberation, and many prayers is the 
present graded Sunday-school. This model graded Sunday- 
school of to-day has seven departments : The Cradle Roll for 
children under three; the Beginners' Department, covering 
approximately the years from three to five, inclusive; the 
Primary, from six to eight; the Junior, from nine to twelve; 
the Intermediate, from thirteen to sixteen ; the 

A Modern Senior, from seventeen to twenty, and the Adult 
Graded 

School Department, over twenty. Each of these depart- 

ments between the Cradle Roll and the Adult De- 
partment is again divided into one-year periods. This assigns 
four years to the Junior Department, these to be known as 
the First Year, Second Year, Third Year, and Fourth Year 
Juniors. 

At first glance the average superintendent is appalled. 
Such a scheme seems utterly impracticable, and to be carried 
out only in large schools with the most perfect equipment. 

4 



ORGANIZATION 57 

Any plan that is worth while must be ideal, and no ideal 
is easy of attainment. The plan proposed does not presup- 
pose the immediate fulfillment of every detail, but it does 
present a plan for careful grading of the pupils and for les- 
sons adapted to such grading, in the firm belief that a begin- 
ning may be made toward the realization of this ideal in 
every school. 

Such a plan of grading at once raises a question in regard to 
teachers. If the children are to be regularly graded and advanced 
from one grade to another, shall the teachers advance with them ? 
Teachers Again we turn to the secular schools where a great 
effort is made to secure teachers who are spe- 
cialists in the grade in which they are teaching. This, too, 
should be the ideal of the Sunday-school : Trained teachers 
for each department, who year by year shall become more 
effective through study and experience in working with chil- 
dren of the same age. Our ideal for the Junior Department 
is the teacher who, by retaining her position, allowing the 
class each year to pass on, becomes an expert in the teaching 
of the lessons for that year. In cases where this ideal can 
not be reached a teacher may advance with her class through 
the four grades, but remain in the Junior Department when 
the class is promoted. 

At first this ideal may seem to have many disadvantages, 
as the training of the Sunday-school is not primarily of the 
intellect, and success is dependent so largely on the personal 
relationship of teacher and pupil; but the difficulty is largely 
due to custom. When the old way is forgotten it will be 
found that this same strong personal touch may be estab- 
lished under the present method. 

Many are at a loss as to how to effect such an organiza- 
tion. Marion Lawrance suggests one of the best 
Organize methods, namely: Call the teachers together, 
present the plan in full, and call for a free dis- 
cussion. In the majority of schools the plan meets with op- 
position, but if handled wisely the desirability of such or- 

4 



58 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

ganization gradually forces itself upon the minds of the 
teachers. Discuss this at successive meetings, if necessary, 
until there is unanimity on the subject. Then ask the teach- 
ers to present it enthusiastically to the pupils and discuss it 
with them. An action taken by the pupils themselves in a 
rising vote will do much to secure their co-operation when 
it comes to the matter of classification. 

The next step will be a complete enrollment of the school 
as to age and school grade, followed by the division into de- 
partments, the different departments being seated in assigned 
sections of the room, no change being at first made in classes 
except as certain ones may be in the wrong department. 
These should be transferred at once and temporarily as- 
signed. 

Age to a certain extent must be the basis of grading in 
the Sunday-school, for one reason because the material of re- 
ligious education does not offer the same opportunity for 
examination and marking as the materials 
Grading °* secular education. Age alone, however, as 

has been pointed out in the introductory chapter, 
can not be made the sole basis of determination. As a rule 
children of the same age are approximately of about equal 
mental development, but where a boy or girl is graded in 
school two or three years beyond the average boy of his age 
some adjustment must be made. No rule can be laid down, 
as each such case must be treated individually. 

When grading is introduced the separation of those who 
have been for several years in the same classes, or who are 
chums, is sometimes a serious matter, and it may at times be 
wise not to force such changes immediately. If there is gen- 
eral feeling of opposition on the part of the pupils, it is well 
to propose that such re-classification take place at the end 
of a certain period that they may agree upon. They will 
then be ready for it. In individual cases it may be necessary 
to await an opportune time. 

One girl more advanced and older than her chum posi- 

4 



ORGANIZATION 59 

tively refused to be transferred; to insist would have driven 
her from the school. After using every effort to persuade 
Mary to change her mind the superintendent wisely waited. 
After a few months a new girl entered the school; she was 
an entire stranger in the class to which she was assigned, 
but was acquainted with Mary. The superintendent saw her 
opportunity, appealed to Mary on the ground of the new 
girl's loneliness, and secured her consent to be transferred 
that she might look after the new girl. 

II. An Organized Junior Department 

What has been said in general on the subject of organiza- 
tion may be said in particular of the organization of the 
Junior Department. The extent of the organization of this 
Organization department will depend largely upon its relation 
to the rest of the school. If the entire school, 
or all but the Primary Department, must meet in one room 
and hold all general exercises together, a much simpler or- 
ganization will be necessary than if this department has a 
separate room and separate session. If the school is so small 
that it is a simple matter for the school secretary to keep the 
records of all departments, a complete corps of officers for 
the Junior Department would be so much unnecessary tim- 
ber. On the one hand the school must be guarded against 
over-organization; on the other hand, against too little ma- 
chinery for effective work. 

The ideal Junior Department will meet in its own room 
and will be organized with its Superintendent, assistant, 
membership secretary, treasurer, teachers, and assistants or 
helpers, all of whom shall be regularly elected. If the de- 
partment meet in the room with the rest of the school it 
must still have its Superintendent, who will have the over- 
sight of the work that is strictly departmental work both in 
connection with the lessons, the promotions, and the social 
work. 

There must be, as has been suggested, a complete enroll- 



60 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

ment of the pupils, giving age and school grade. The pupils 
should be classified according to years, placing boys and girls 
in separate classes, yet disturbing the existing classification 
as little as possible. This will ideally place eight or more 
classes in the Junior Department, one each of girls and of 
boys of each year. In the smaller schools to do this would 
Classification ma ke some of the classes too small. There is 
little enthusiasm in a class of less than five or 
six members, and where such a division would make the 
classes too small it will be better to combine them. How 
shall this be done? By combining the two classes of the 
same age and thus putting boys and girls together? Never, 
in the Junior Department, if you wish to maintain interest 
and order, and hold the boys. Rather combine the girls of 
nine and ten, and those of eleven and twelve, and the boys 
in the same way. 

Classes of Juniors preferably should be less than eight 
and in some cases six may be the maximum. As soon as the 
maximum is reached both teacher and superintendent should 
occasionally refer to the fact, that it may be understood that 
no new pupil can be assigned to that class. 

Every new pupil should at once be taken to the Sunday- 
school Secretary of Enrollment and Classification, by whom 
he may be assigned to the right department. As a rule the 
departmental superintendent is the one best qualified to place 
the new pupils in classes. 

A very convenient plan is to have one ungraded class in 
which all new pupils are placed for two or three weeks until 
it can be carefully determined just in which class they prop- 
erly belong. During this period the superintendent can study 
the pupil's needs and also consider the class and teachers to 
find out where these needs can best be met. The teacher who 
has the gift of making people feel at home is well adapted to 
this class for newcomers. Of course in a small department 
the problem of placing new pupils is not so difficult, as there is 
usually but one class into which they can go. 

4 



ORGANIZATION 61 

If the pupils understand that there is a definite plan for 
the assignment to classes there will be little trouble or dissat- 
isfaction. An effort should constantly be made to build up 
the entire department rather than a single class. 

Pupils should be promoted on an established basis each 
year, in a regular promotion service, which may form 
part of the Graduation Exercises. Whether the Graded 
or Uniform Lessons are used, a definite amount of work 
Promotion should be expected of the Juniors each year. 
Thus the promotion will be based partly upon 
attainments and partly upon age. The Juniors' ambition to 
follow those older than themselves makes Promotion Day a 
memorable occasion. A love of rewards and of recognition 
gives added value to the certificate granted to those who have 
done the required work. 

The one danger in departmental organization is that each 

department will come to feel itself an independent school. 

The Junior Department is but one section of the school. The 

superintendent of the school is the chief officer 

Relation- Q £ ^^ d e p ar t me nt, and all plans should be sub- 
snip to 

the School mitted for his approval. The records of this de- 
partment must be reported to the secretary of the 
school and form a part of the school record. The offerings, 
unless otherwise ordered by the Sunday School Board, should 
pass through the hands of the Sunday-school treasurer, and in 
cases where funds are otherwise expended vouchers for the 
same should be filed with the treasurer that they may become 
matters of record. 

The interests of the school must be the interests of the de- 
partment, and a definite effort should be made to keep the 
school a unit. 

Much has been said on the subject of class organiza- 
tions. Much may be said on both sides. A Junior loves to 
"belong." The mere fact of belonging is a strong lever in 
holding his interest, and for this reason many things may 
be said in favor of class organization, yet the following case 

4 



62 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

is not entirely suppositious. One teacher feels that some- 
thing is needed to stimulate the interest in her class, and to 
make the attendance more regular. She organizes them. 

_ She is a woman of some leisure and can easily 

Class Or- . . . . r 

ganization £ lve an afternoon a week to a social time with 

the class. She opens her home. Her relation- 
ship with her class is ideal. They are regular at Sunday- 
school, faithful in the performance of their work, largely 
because she can follow it up each week. 

The teacher of the next class is a man whose hours of 
business take him from home from seven in the morning to 
six at night, and often far into the evening. He is just as 
much interested in his class, may be a better teacher; he 
would be glad to afford his class the same social life as that 
of class number one, but it is impossible. What is to be 
done? Class number one feel that they are the class in the 
school, and the problem of every teacher is increased. Many 
teachers might greatly increase their efficiency by following 
the example of teacher number one, even if he or she could 
go only half way; but the question arises whether the real 
purpose of the department would not be more nearly accom- 
plished if this teacher would extend her organization to in- 
clude all the girls of the department, or of the year to which 
her class belongs, if the department is a large one, and a sim- 
ilar organization be effected for the boys, in order to avoid 
establishing an aristocracy among classes that will make it 
almost imperative that the teacher as well as the class be 
graduated into the next department if the class is to be held. 
This would not in any way diminish her opportunity to do for 
her individual class as a class everything in her power, but 
it would give all the classes an opportunity to share in the 
good times in a way that would increase the unity and effect- 
iveness of the department. 

The organization of classes not so much in the interest of 
the activities as for the betterment of the class itself some- 
times proves very effective. The class spirit is strengthened, 



ORGANIZATION 63 

order and attention are improved by the partial self-govern- 
ment which is the natural outgrowth of such organizations, 
and a spirit of individual responsibility by the class as a 
whole is created, especially among the officers. 

Class secretaries may keep the records of honor mark- 
ings and other details that are peculiarly class interests, and 
committees may be appointed to look after absentees and do 
other special work. This kind of training is always very 
helpful. The number of week-day meetings of an organized 
class or department will depend upon conditions and also 
upon the other organizations or clubs to which the Juniors 
may belong. 

Care must be taken that the machinery of organization 
does not become burdensome. A simple plan well and hap- 
pily carried on is far better than an elaborate one which may 
be adapted to adults but is too cumbersome for the inexperi- 
enced boys and girls. Whatever plan is adopted it is well 
to have frequent changes of officers, as this keeps up the 
interest and gives each one the different kinds of training. 

Lesson Outline: 

I. The Graded School. 
II. An Organized Junior Department. 

Topics for Special Study: 

1. Teacher specialization. 

2. Segregation of boys and girls. 

Topics for Class Discussion: 

1. Organization in business and in secular schools. 

2. The gradual adaptation of grading in Sunday-schools. 

3. Outline the plan for the complete grading of a 

Sunday-school. 

4. State objections to and advantages of graded teachers. 

5. How best to go about grading a school. 

6. To what extent should the Junior Department be 

organized ? 

7. State the important points concerning classification. 



CHAPTER VI 
GENERAL DEPARTMENTAL EQUIPMENT 

One of the noticeable features of present-day Sunday- 
school work is the improvement in equipment. Yet there are 
few Junior workers who have all the things they desire, and 
many are greatly handicapped by the conditions under which 
they work. What is possible in one place is quite out of the 
question in another, so the only rule that will fit all schools 
is, "Get the very best that you can." 

I. The Room 

i. The ideal plan. The ideal for the Junior Department 
is a room so situated that it may be entirely separated from 
the main room of the Sunday-school for the regular service, 
and yet so arranged that the two may be thrown together for 
special occasions. This at once suggests the problem of 
most schools, that of the interruption in the work of one 
department occasioned by the music and singing in the other, 
and opens the question as to whether it is not preferable to 
have the rooms entirely separated by sound dead- 
Room enec * wa ^ s » or m another part of the building. 
At the present day when the grading pendulum 
is swung to the extreme limit the weight of favor is quite li- 
able to be on the side of the entirely separate room, but a 
realization of the importance of the developing social 
instinct at this age will make the more conservative student 
feel that a close touch with, and an occasional participation 
in, the exercises of the advanced departments will furnish an 
impetus to the work of the Junior Department that must not be 

64 



GENERAL DEPARTMENTAL EQUIPMENT 65 

undervalued. The general music of the Junior Department 
will not differ materially from that of the main school, and if 
it becomes necessary the two rooms may be thrown together 
for the opening songs ; especially if the school has a large or- 
chestra. 

The ideal room for the Junior Department, then, will be 
a separate room large enough so that the classes need not be 
crowded, for the power of elbow electricity is a strong in- 
centive to disorder at this age. Where the sectional plan 

of grouping all the classes of each year under 
Size and , . r n 1 • .« • 1 

Arrangement one tea cher is followed it will necessitate the 

division of this room into four rooms that each 

teacher may be enabled to carry out to best advantage the 

teaching of her section. These sectional rooms will obviate 

the necessity of class rooms. Otherwise the room should 

be provided with small class rooms, by means of movable 

partitions, which separate classes from each other but throw 

all open to the platform, or by means of curtains or screens. 

Each class room should be well lighted and of such size that 

the class may be comfortably seated about a circular table 

large enough to accommodate the entire number. The ideal 

room will have an ante-room for caps, wraps, and rubbers. 

This should be so arranged with hooks that each Junior may 

have his own hook. 

Ideal arrangements will include a geography-room. This 
should be separate from the various departmental rooms of 
the school, and may be used in common by the Junior and 
Intermediate Departments. It should have ample blackboard 
space, and its equipment should include a sink with running 
water, sand tables, and tables for map making. Such a room 
will be found a great convenience for the teaching of geog- 
raphy and for various other forms of hand-work. 

2. When a separate departmental room is impossible. 
Having decided upon the ideal room for the Junior Depart- 
ment, it will be well to consider the possibilities of the aver- 
age school, which instead of having ideal arrangements must 



66 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

adapt itself to existing conditions. There is usually to be 
found one large room, with possibly a separate room for the 
Primary Department, and in some cases one or more small 
classrooms. Here the Junior, Intermediate, and Senior De- 
partments must of necessity meet in the same room. In such 
cases distinct departmental work in opening or general exer- 
cises is well-nigh impossible, as even with temporary parti- 
tions the sounds would carry enough to cause great confusion. 
For the Junior Department, however, the separation of the 
classes by screens or curtains for class work is very desir- 
able. Even when the room is seated with pews, wires may be 
stretched without disfigurement and curtains drawn between 
the classes. If the room be a regular Sunday-school room 
poles may be so adjusted that curtains will divide the room 
into a number of classrooms ; or folding screens, covered with 
burlap or denim, may be arranged to very effectively separate 
the classes. The separate class rooms not only serve to pre- 
vent the distraction of attention, but give opportunity for the 
use of blackboard, maps, and pictures in the individual classes. 
3. Care of the room. Too much importance can not be 
attached to the matter of the temperature and ventilation of 
the room occupied by Juniors. Restlessness, a general hum 
Ventilation °^ disorder and inattention, frequently indicate 
the over-heated room as accurately as does the 
thermometer, and when such a condition begins to manifest 
itself it is wise to inspect the mercury at once. Listlessness 
and lack of interest are equally good indications of a heavy 
atmosphere. In these days when the public press is doing so 
much to secure the proper ventilation of all buildings used for 
public gatherings, every Junior Superintendent should be alert 
to the danger of a poorly ventilated room; the best prepared 
lesson accomplishes but little in an impure atmosphere. In a 
crowded room the windows may all be thrown open for a 
minute or two during the singing without danger to any one, 
even in the coldest weather, and the air thus kept fresh and 
full of life. 



GENERAL DEPARTMENTAL EQUIPMENT 67 

A room with floors spotless, furniture free from dust, and 
chairs in perfect rows, ushers one into an atmosphere of order 
at once, while dust in the corners, an unsightly and untidy 
Orderliness P^ e * P a P er s on the floor or table, and chairs 
whose zigzag appearance almost makes one 
dizzy, speak quite as loudly. Order in a disorderly room is 
almost a miracle. 

II. Furnishings 

We pass by the schools which must be seated in the church 
pews, looking for the day when it will be considered as abso- 
lutely necessary for the Juniors to have movable chairs, as it 
Chairs * s conceded to be for the Primary children. The 

first and second year Juniors are still unable to 
place their feet on the floor when seated in the chair of regu- 
lation height, and when the department meets in a separate 
room the chairs should be graded in size the same as in the 
Primary Department, care being taken to have the chair 
fully equal to the size of the pupil. 

The ideal floor covering for the Junior Department is the 
heavy cork carpet, which can be secured in soft colors and 
good designs, and which gives an almost noiseless floor. 

The use of this, however, presupposes that it be 
Covering kept free from dust, for it shows dust easily. 

Second to the cork covering is the carpet. It is 
impossible to keep Junior chairs and Junior feet from scrap- 
ing on a sound-producing floor. 

If there is sufficient room class tables should be provided. 
These greatly increase the teacher's success in the using of the 
maps or small blackboard and note-books. The Bibles may 
be placed upon the table, ready for use, and the table with the 
teacher at one side becomes the center of interest. With the 
Tables present plans for manual work, the table passes 

into the list of the "can not get along without." 
The circular table is best adapted to Junior work as it brings 
each pupil easily within the range of the teacher's vision, and 



68 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

also requires less space. The folding circular tables may be 
purchased in different sizes, and where the room is used for 
other purposes these are of advantage, as they can be closed 
and placed against the wall, thus taking up no room. The 
circular table is not, however, the only one that can be used. 
The inexpensive pine table, such as is commonly used in the 
kitchen, purchasable for a small amount, will give good serv- 
ice. 

In the purpose of the Sunday-school that which Patterson 
Du Bois terms "nurture by atmosphere," or unconscious nur- 
ture, holds a place hardly second to that of the direct in- 
Pictures struction. The atmosphere of the room into 

which Junior boys and girls enter determines to 
a large measure the question of reverence and order. Al- 
ready it has been said that order and reverence in an untidy 
room are attainable only with difficulty. Attention should 
also be given to making the room attractive. Barren walls 
with chipped plaster and defaced paint are not conducive to 
reverence, no more are inharmonious or glaring colors, 
whether in wall decorations or pictures. Sunday-schools 
should never allow themselves to be the victims of would-be 
friends who, learning that the Junior Department would like 
pictures for its room, very graciously give any cast-off pic- 
tures that they may have. 

For this department pictures should be carefully selected 
with a view to their fitness for the room, adaptation to the 
age of the pupils, and to their unconscious educational value. 
"Christ blessing the children," beautiful as it is, will not be 
found in the Junior room, but in its stead the detail head of 
Christ from Hoffman's "Christ and the Doctors," or "Christ 
and the Rich Young Ruler." The beautiful motherhood por- 
trayed in the madonnas may still appear, but more sparingly. 
Here we will not find the picture of the boy Samuel, kneeling 
with upraised hands in prayer, but the boy John the Baptist; 
not the finding of the baby Moses in the bulrushes, but Moses 
with the tables of the law. A pastoral picture where the 



GENERAL DEPARTMENTAL EQUIPMENT 69 

shepherd stands out rugged and strong in his tenderness and 
care of the sheep, the sculptured head of David, and Daniel in 
the lion's den are all favorites with Juniors. Two of these 
good pictures are of far greater value than a number that are 
not carefully selected. Indeed, care must be exercised lest in 
their multiplicity pictures do not become a drawback instead 
of an inspiration. 

It is well, where possible, to change the pictures once or 
twice a year to fit the lessons or the seasons. Special subjects, 
as Washington, Lincoln, the Landing of the Pilgrims, the 
Signing of the Declaration of Independence, or the Angels 
and the Shepherds should be hung for special days. 

In the selection of pictures the first thought should be of 
the ideal presented; the next the workmanship. The works 
of the masters should be chosen where possible; halftones, or 
sepia print copies of great paintings are far preferable to the 
average colored picture. The studies should present ideals, 
the lines be strong and firm, and the subjects represent life 
and action. 

A United States flag should have a prominent place in 
every Junior room. This is the age when patriots are made 
and when the Church can not afford to relegate the training 
Fla _ in patriotism entirely to the secular schools, and 

thus separate it from its religious element. 
Christianity and patriotism must grow hand in hand. The 
pledge, "I give my head, my hands, my heart to God and my 
country, one God, one country, one flag, and the open Bible," 
should form a part of the opening service on all appropriate 
occasions. This should be given with the department stand- 
ing at attention (but without "motions") and close with the 
citizen's salute to the flag. 

Every Junior Department should have an instrument to 

Instrument ^ ea< ^ tne singing. Preferably this will be a piano 

with full, round tone. A piano out of tune, or of 

a metallic or rasping quality of tone, carries an unconscious 

suggestion of the hurdy-gurdy and sometimes produces a 

4 



70 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

similar effect, in a lesser degree. If a piano can not be had 
the small organ should not be despised. The success with 
Juniors in the use of any organ will depend largely on the ac- 
companist, for here, as in everything else pertaining to 
Junior work, there must be life, and the accompanist who 
can make the music live will insure a hearty response from the 
boys and girls whatever the instrument. 

A bulletin board is a great convenience, and if rightly 
used will be surrounded by groups of Juniors before and 
after services. It should be made of some material to which 

notices and articles can be readily pinned. On 
Mis^liane- ^i s board can be placed announcements, lists 
ment of names of pupils receiving honorable mention 

for their work, titles of new books in the library, 
pictures of missionaries or of places of interest, and many 
other things. A secretary's desk and a cabinet for holding 
handwork materials, objects, and missionary curios are very 
desirable articles of furniture. 

Lesson Outline: 
I. The Room, 
i. The ideal plan. 

2. When a separate departmental room is impossible. 

3. Care of the room. 
II. Furnishings. 

Topic for Special Study: 

1. Model Sunday-school buildings. 

Topics for Class Discussion: 

1. Should the Junior Department room be entirely sep- 

arated from the main school, or not? 

2. How should the Junior room be planned? 

3. When the entire Sunday-school meets in one room 

what provision for Junior needs may be made? 

4. Give the most important particulars concerning the 

care of the room. 

5. What furnishings are necessary for the department? 



CHAPTER VII 
EQUIPMENT FOR TEACHER AND PUPIL 

The public schools provide an elaborate array of helps 
for the teacher's and pupil's use, and the Sunday-school must 
also recognize the value of these teaching materials. 

I. Equipment for the Teacher 

i. Workers' library. Many good books are available on 
the subjects of child study, methods of teaching, Sunday- 
school management, Bible study, and missions. The reading 
of these books by the teachers will make them more efficient 
instructors. No school can afford to be without such a li- 
brary, for the use not only of the Junior but for all depart- 
ments. 

2. Pictures. Mention has been made of pictures for 
the walls. They also have an educational value for illustrat- 
ing and explaining lessons. The teachers and pupils can eas- 
ily make a collection of photographs and other pictures which 
will be of great assistance in presenting the lessons. Stere- 
opticon views on a wide variety of religious subjects are now 
available and will be found of much interest and value. 

3. The blackboard. This is an invaluable aid to the 
teacher. The stationary wall blackboards, where the wall 
space is sufficient and well located, have the advantage of a 
firmness that can not be secured otherwise, but do not add 
to the attractiveness of the room nor afford the opportunity 
for springing surprises that the reversible blackboard offers. 
The standard reversible blackboard is more accessible to the 

71 



72 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

average Junior Department than the stationary board, and 
possesses many advantages, not the least of which is that 
work may be put on the reverse side and not be visible till it 
is needed. The roll board is less expensive, but owing to its 
lack of firmness is not so satisfactory. For classroom use 
the blackboard 610th which may be purchased by the yard 
can be tacked in place and used to advantage. For the in- 
dividual class, not in a classroom, whether separated by mov- 
able partitions or not, the small lap blackboard is valuable. 
In cases where a blackboard of any kind may not be had, large 
sheets of manilla paper, with charcoal, crayons, or pencil, may 
be substituted. 

4. Maps. As the Juniors are beginning to study geog- 
raphy they have an interest in places, and it is a good time 
to locate the Bible stories. The use of maps and photographs 
gives a sense of reality to the stories which they have heard 
in the Primary Department. The great drawback to most 
maps prepared for Juniors is the superabundance of detail. 
The natural beginning in the development of map interest in 
the Junior Department is the sand table, so frequently and 
erroneously assigned to the Beginners' and Primary Depart- 
ment, and the relief map, developed, so far as possible, in the 
presence of the Juniors. Following this will come the phys- 
ical map, and later the outline map, giving the outlines of the 
country or countries, the main geographical and political fea- 
tures, and locating a few prominent places. 

Maps mounted on curtain rollers are not only more easily 

cared for and kept clean, but are interest awakening, as they 

~ .. . present the element of newness whenever they 

Possible , . _,, , , , 1 

Provisions are drawn into view. Each class should have its 

own set of maps. If the department has class- 
rooms and the wall space is sufficient, maps as large as 36 x 58 
inches are desirable; but maps half this size can easily be 
seen by all in a small classroom. For the class using screens 
these same maps are available as they may be hung on the 

curtain or screen. For the classes where all are in one room 

4 



EQUIPMENT FOR TEACHER AND PUPIL 73 

the class maps are none the less essential. These will neces- 
sarily be smaller, and if fastened to mounting board can be 
used to better advantage. 

II. Equipment for the Pupil 

1. Bibles. Every Junior should have his own Bible. If 
his parents can not or will not get him one, and the school 
has not the means to do so, enter his name on the errand 
list and open an account with him. If the existence of this 
errand list becomes known, people desiring to have errands 
done will be glad to call upon the boys or girls recommended 
and the money earned by each may be deposited to his credit 
with the treasurer of the Junior Department or of the Bible 
fund, until enough has been earned for the purchase of a 
Bible. The name will then be stricken off the list. 

Bibles for the Junior Department should be in clear, fair- 
sized type with the chapter numbers in arabic numerals. For 
Th K* d ^ e k°y s ft 1S wlser t0 have them of a size that 
to Get can be carried in the pocket, as boys of this age 

as well as of the Intermediate frequently have 
a strong prejudice against carrying a Bible. It is a preju- 
dice which they will outgrow, and therefore it is wise to 
accede to it. 

Why not have department Bibles? The reasons are many. 
This is the age when the sense of ownership is rapidly devel- 
oping, and "my Bible" is looked upon with a respect and 
reverence that no other could ever awaken. Then it is much 
easier for one just beginning to get acquainted with the Bible 
to always use the same one. Not the least important reason 
is that this is the age at which to form the habit of having a 
Bible and of using it. 

2. Song-Books. With the promotion from the Primary 
Department comes the use of individual song-books. This 
should be, if possible, the book used in the higher department, 
that the Juniors may be familiar with the songs and able to 

take part in the singing when the entire school meets together. 

4 



74 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

Let there be enough books so that there shall be, if possible, 
one for every member. 

Occasionally special songs may be sung from a chart or 
blackboard, but the Junior prefers to sing from the book, 
and a book containing the tunes, first because it is suggestive 
of the Adult rather than the Primary Department, and second 
because in most cases he is beginning to study music in the sec- 
ular schools, and takes pride in having both music and words 
before him. 

3. Library. The Juniors are liberal patrons of the Sun- 
day-school library, and in their eagerness some will read every 
book to be found there. A Junior section in the library with 
separate catalogue is advisable. In the larger cities where 

the free libraries are open to all there is not a 

Special great demand for books from the Sunday-school 

Junior ,., . , , _ . \ . 

Library library in any section but the Junior. In such 

cases it is well to have a Junior library. Juniors 
will read, and out of the books they read, to a large extent, 
grow their ideals. At no other age is the reading of such im- 
portance as at this age. Literary tastes are being formed, 
habits of thought are becoming fixed, and ideals are shaping 
for all after years. The part the Sunday-school library may 
play in this can not be over-estimated. 

Begin with a few well-chosen volumes and add to them 
from month to month, not any book that is given you, or any 
book that the book dealer recommends, but such books as 
stand the test of a committee who understand both Juniors 
and books. Boys and girls of this age must have books full 
of action, of life, and vigor. Adventure there must be and 
that of a thrilling kind, but given their choice between those 
which are wholesome and those which are not, they will, as a 
rule, decide in favor of the wholesome books. The reading 
of the Juniors should have, however, careful supervision. 
The possible injury from one evil book may be irreparable. 

4. Materials for handwork. The introduction of the 
graded lessons, with the accompanying students' note-books, 



EQUIPMENT FOR TEACHER AND PUPIL 75 

demands some appliances not before recognized as necessary 
in many schools. Just what these should be will be determined 
by the form of handwork done, and will undoubtedly change 
from year to year. This will almost necessitate the addition 
of a cabinet of some form to the furnishings of the Junior 
room. In this will be found pencils, with some implement 
for keeping them sharpened, loose leaves for the notebook 
work, library paste with kindergarten splints for its use, col- 
ored crayons, water colors, collection of pictures to be used 
in the note-books, and where relief maps are to be made, 
boards for them and mache for the making of the maps. A 
punch, also, will often be found very useful. 

II. Equipment for Special Subjects 

1. For mission study. The subject of missions in some 
form has long been recognized as an important line of study 
for the Sunday-school. This has been something of a bug- 
bear to the average teacher who knows little about missions 
and less of how to teach them. The appliances prepared for 
this study are many and varied, and offer a rich field for the 
awakening of interest. The missionary object lessons, with 
a box of models, on Africa, Japan, and the American In- 
dian, advertised for the Primary Department, have little 
value in that department, but are full of interest 
Missionary £ Qr ^ j un i ors< With these comes a descriptive 

Models and 

Curios booklet affording the outline for a given number 

of studies on said country. Even better than 

these is a collection of curios from the various countries. If 

it be known that the Junior Department is making such a 

collection, many families of the Sunday-school and Church 

will have something which they will be willing to contribute. 

Postcards on the reverse side of which is the story of 

the picture can be secured for various countries, while in 

this postcard age the teacher who keeps her eyes open and 

makes use of her missionary friends can add many cards to 

these regularly prepared. Foreign stamps also may be used 



76 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

as the basis of much helpful instruction. From the mission- 
ary societies of the different denominations sets of Oriental 
pictures may be secured. The flags of the missionary coun- 
Post Cards tr * es are not always procurable, but may be 
made by the Juniors according to the cuts found 
in almost any dictionary, and their use form a part of the 
missionary service. 

Missionary maps of almost all mission countries may also 
be had, but none quite equal the large map of the world on 

which the mission territory of the Church may 
Maps and , . ,. t . , , . • « 

Charts ® Q indicated either by special color or the use 

of stars. Charts, with words printed in the 
Oriental languages, comparative plans of various kinds, and 
pictures, form a valuable aid. 

Something in the line of a receptacle for missionary 
funds is an absolute necessity. It is useless, or almost so, 
Mite Boxes to arouse an interest in missions without afford- 
ing an opportunity for that interest to be put 
into action, and a Junior if he is to save money must have 
a receptacle. 

The difficulty with many teachers lies in the wealth of lit- 
erature on the subject of missions, and the difficulty in mak- 
ing selections. We have long been bound to the "hop, skip, 
and jump" method of mission study, an article or a story 
about this, that, and the other country all at one meeting; 
Literature or at * east a different country every meeting. 
The present literature for Juniors suggests a more 
rational plan: that of taking up a definite line of study and 
giving time enough to one country to enable the boys and 
girls to become acquainted with it and want to know more 
about it. To supply this further knowledge the missionary 
library may gradually be installed. 

2, For temperance instruction. The temperance lessons 
which occur systematically in the assigned lessons are by 
many teachers regularly passed over with just as little no- 
tice as possible, not because any one doubts the wisdom of 



EQUIPMENT FOR TEACHER AND PUPIL 77 

teaching temperance to Junior boys and girls, but because 
"We don't know how." The appliances offered to help in 
this study are meager and frequently of such a nature that 
one who understands boys and girls can not use them. 

Temperance charts can be readily made by any worker. 
For example, the one showing the doors closed against the 
boy who smokes cigarettes; another, the various buildings 
Charts showing the proportionate amounts spent for 

various purposes. This latter should be a series 
of charts, the square surface of the buildings being in pro- 
portion to the amount of money represented, as, for foreign 
missions, the home Church, the navy, tobacco, and alcoholic 
drinks. The map of the United States with the prohibition 
States indicated by the coloring, or the map of your own State 
divided into counties, coloring these counties as they become 
dry, keeps interest alive. 

There are many forms of temperance pledge cards, and 
some schools also use a temperance Roll of Honor on which 
are placed the names of all who have signed the pledge. 

Scrap-books containing items of interest for temperance 
and missionary lessons are very helpful. The pupils can 
readily be interested in collecting material for these books. 

Lesson Outline: 

I. Equipment for the Teacher, 
i. Workers' library. 

2. Pictures. 

3. The blackboard. 

4. Maps. 

II. Equipment for the Pupil. 

1. Bibles. 

2. Song Books. 

3. Library. 

4. Materials for handwork. 



78 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

III. Equipment for Special Subjects, 
i. For mission study. 
2. For temperance instruction. 

Topics for Special Study: 

1. Best books for a Junior worker's library. 

2. Best books for Junior boys and girls. 

Topics for Class Discussion: 

1. What is the special value of a worker's library? 

2. Name some possible provisions for a blackboard. 

3. State the most important points concerning maps 

for the Junior Department. 

4. Why should the Junior have his own Bible? 

5. Why is a Junior library important? 

6. Name some materials of instruction for mission 

study. 



CHAPTER VIII. 
DUTIES OF OFFICERS AND TEACHERS 

I. Qualifications of the Junior Worker 

i. Christian character. Beginning at the very founda- 
tion, the Junior worker must be a Christian; more, he must 
be an earnest and consistent Christian. The Junior is a lit- 
eralist and a keen observer. His rule is very accurate, and 
every one who would win his respect must measure up to 
the standard. His must be a sincere, honest religion, of daily 
life rather than of words, in order to be effective, for the 
Junior will "do what you do" though he cares not for, or is 
driven away by, many words. Remember his estimate of 
religion or Christianity is being formed. Whether to him it 
becomes worth while or not depends largely on the way he 
reads it in your life and mine. 

"Beyond the exemplification of the power of religion in a 
Christlike character, manifested by a morally consistent walk 
and conversation, there are various secondary ways in which 
the teacher can, by his personal influence, give carrying 
Personal power to the truth he teaches. Earnestness is 
Qualities always impressive. Enthusiasm is the life of 
Which Point the soul. The best teacher/ says Swett, 'is he 
t e essage W ^ Q can k est kj nc u e hearts into enthusiasm by a 
spark of electric fire from his own soul/ Again, none but 
will be attracted by gracious courtesy and by kindly sympathy. 
Cheerfulness wins. A smile, a cordial greeting, and a hearty 
handshake, if they bear the stamp of genuineness, will turn 
the key in the locked door of many a heart. A sunny dispo- 

6 79 4 



8o THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

sition, persistently looking on the bright side, placing the best 
possible interpretation on the acts and words of men, charity 
in judgment — these qualities commend themselves to all. Per- 
sonal neatness, cleanliness, orderliness — these adorn even re- 
ligion. Modesty, not 'thinking more highly of himself than 
he ought to think/ gentleness — these combined in due propor- 
tion with firmness, earnestness, and self-assurance, will im- 
part strength to teaching. . . . Courage, shown by a readi- 
ness to stand for the right at any cost, the endurance that 
never whines or complains of aches and pains, either of the 
body or of the spirit — these compel admiration. In these and 
in innumerable lesser ways it is the teacher's privilege to show 
forth in and through himself the beauty of the religion of 
Christ. 'Neither do men light a candle and put it under a 
bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that 
are in the house.' " x 

2. A natural leader. The Church and the Sunday-school 
of to-day are crying for leaders, but in no place is this quali- 
fication more of a necessity than in the Junior Department, 
for here, if anywhere, boys and girls are followers. The 
power to command is in many cases a matter of personality, 
and thus an inherent qualification, but it may be largely culti- 
vated. The leader who has the power to command is not 
noted for his much talking, as that betrays weakness and 
often suggests that he fears that he will not gain his end. 
If a Junior leader can command the respect of every Junior, 
the battle is practically won. He will talk little of order, but 
he will have order, first by being himself orderly in the 
minutest detail; next, by expecting order, nay, more than 
expecting it: accepting it as an established fact and having it. 

A Junior worker being questioned regarding the order 
during a certain meeting replied: "I thought it was pretty 
good. Of course I do not expect boys of that age not to 
whisper and giggle and punch each other." It is unnecessary 



1 Barclay, "The Adult Worker and His Work," p. 58. 



DUTIES OF OFFICERS AND TEACHERS 8x 

to say that whispering, giggling, and punching were charac- 
teristic of that class. 

3. Sympathetic understanding, "After all, sympathy is 
the secret of success with children. The need of sympathy 
is ingrained into the child's life. . . . 'Listen/ says Herbert 
Spencer, 'to the eager volubility with which every urchin de- 
scribes any novelty he has been to see, if only he can find some 
one who will attend with any interest/ It is sympathy that 
draws children together. It is the secret of 'chum* friend- 
ships. 'Sympathizing with each other, confiding in each other, 
coming into the closest touch with each other's inmost nature, 
chums exert a profound influence upon the whole life and 
character of each other/' It binds boys together into unions 
and teams. It is the natural atmosphere of childhood. It dies, 
if it ever does die, only through repeated rebuffs and betrayals 
of confidence, and constant living in the narrow world of sel- 
fishness. . . . The true teacher will give from his whole 
heart the sympathy required. He will try to put himself into 
the child's place mentally and emotionally, and will thus gain 
in the simplest way real power over the little life. And he 
will receive sympathy in return, for children are little mir- 
rors that reflect even more than they receive/ " x 

The expression "To be a successful worker with Juniors 
you must be one of them" is very misleading and a great mis- 
take. A Junior teacher must be one with his Juniors in sym- 
pathy and in interests, but never one of them. He must enter 
into their plays, their likes and dislikes, and their troubles, 
but not as one of them, for Juniors are hero worshipers, and 
the teacher who influences their lives is the one they look up 
to and admire. The teacher who puts herself or himself on 
their level at once loses their respect and love. As one boy 
was honest enough to say, "I don't like a teacher who does 
not make me mind." 

4. Personal acquaintanceship with the children. The 



1 Pattee, "Elements of Religious Pedagogy," p. .47. 



82 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

teacher must be willing to give time to becoming personally 
acquainted with each member of his class. This text-book 
has been prepared largely to emphasize the value of child 
study, and to acquaint the Junior teacher with the average 
child, but no amount of child study from books can take the 
place of intimate acquaintanceship with individual children. 
Each pupil presents a problem by himself. "A group of chil- 
dren is not like a flock of sparrows, each member of which- 
is precisely like all the others. The individual child is unique ; 
he has that indefinable something that we call personality; he 
is not like even his own twin brother." Child study from 
books is valuable, almost indispensable, "as a preparation for 
actual contact with actual children," as a means of making 
possible a better understanding of and intelligent dealing with 
individual children; but to have this and omit personal ac- 
quaintanceship with the members of one's class is to fall far 
short. 

5. General qualifications. Aside from the particular 
qualifications mentioned, it will be helpful if the Junior teacher 
has an active knowledge of current events, an acquaintance 
with various athletic interests, a fair idea, at least, of the 
books his own Juniors are reading, an ability to treat moral 
questions from a scientific point of view, a sufficient interest 
in current inventions to enable him to discuss them, and a 
knowledge of what the secular schools are doing for and 
with boys and girls of this age. 

II. Departmental Officers 

1. Superintendent. The superintendent of the Junior 
Election Department should be nominated by the Sunday- 

school on motion of the Superintendent, becom- 
ing thereby the assistant to the Superintendent of the school, 
for the Junior Department. 

In the case of the organized Junior Department with a 
separate room the Junior Superintendent will bear the same 
relation to his department that the Superintendent does to the 



DUTIES OF OFFICERS AND TEACHERS 83 

school as a whole, except that all work, including that of the 
Junior Department, shall be done under the direction and with 
the approval of the Superintendent. He will have general 
oversight of the work of each teacher, present to the Super- 
intendent of the school the names of such persons as he would 
recommend as teachers for the Junior Department, secure 
substitutes in place of absent teachers who have failed to do 
this for themselves, assist in planning definite training work 
for the teachers of the department and social work for the 
pupils, and conduct the regular sessions of the department. 

In cases where the school is not so large and the Junior 
Superintendent is, as is often the case, also a teacher, the as- 
signment of new pupils to classes, the securing of substitute 
teachers, will become the duties of the general officers of the 
school. 

Whether a large or small school, it is advisable for the 
Junior Superintendent to have frequent meetings with the 
Junior teachers so there may be close co-operation and an 
understanding of the work. United efforts will help to solve 
many departmental problems. 

The Superintendent may not be able to know the individual 
pupils as well as the teachers do, but every effort must be 
made to keep in close touch with them and with the parents. 
Occasional calls in the homes should be made if possible. 
Many Junior Superintendents make it a practice to write a 
birthday letter to each member of the department, and these 
letters are much appreciated by the Juniors. 

2. Other officers. The other officers of the department 
will consist of an Assistant Superintendent (where this seems 
necessary), and a Secretary and Treasurer. Upon the Assist- 
ant Superintendent falls the responsibility of performing the 
duties of the Superintendent in his absence. In schools tak- 
ing up manual work the Assistant Superintendent may have 
charge of all supplies for this and the general appliances for 
the work of the department. 

The offices of Secretary and Treasurer should be com- 

4 



84 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

bined in the smaller schools in order to avoid the multiplica- 
tion of offices. This officer should be elected by the Sunday 
School Board and be an assistant to the Secretary of the 
school, for the Junior Department. His duties include keep- 
ing accurate enrollment of the department, with name, address, 
and age of each member, reporting the same to the Secretary 
of the Sunday-school at stated times; keeping an accurate 
record of the attendance of the department, reporting the 
number present to the Secretary of the Sunday-school each 
week. 

The Treasurer should receive the regular offerings of the 
department; make a weekly report of the same to the Treas- 
urer of the school, depositing with him all moneys that be- 
come a part of the regular school funds. In case certain 
funds are retained by the department for special use, the 
Treasurer should hold these and disburse them according to 
orders of the Superintendent, and should file vouchers for 
the same with the Treasurer of the Sunday-school. The 
Treasurer's book for this department should be audited the 
same as in the main school. 

If there is a Junior library a Librarian will become neces- 
sary, whose duty it will be to act as custodian of the library, 
keeping an accurate record of the books withdrawn, and fol- 
Librarian lowing up those kept over time. He will also 
report losses or injury to books to the Library 
Committee. When desired the Librarian may take charge of 
the ordering and distribution of the department periodicals 
and lesson helps. 

III. Teachers 

z. Election, A Junior teacher should be selected with 
much prayer and thought, and recommended to the Sunday- 
school Board (by whom he must be elected) by the Sunday- 
school Superintendent, and the Junior Superintendent. So 
far as may be possible the selection should be a man for boys 
and a woman for girls. 



DUTIES OF OFFICERS AND TEACHERS 85 

When there is a question in the mind of either the Super- 
intendent or prospective teacher as to his adaptability to this 
special department, it is well for him to substitute for a time 
before his name is formally presented for election. 

Two methods of teacher grading are possible, but for the 
Junior Department the Sunday-school authorities commonly 
recognize one as preferable, that of the yearly grading of 
„ ,. „ teachers the same as of the pupils, in order that 

Grading 1 of 

Teachers y ear by year the teacher, as he becomes more 
thoroughly acquainted with his material and its 
adaptation to the needs of that age, may be fitted to do more 
effectively the great work committed to him. 

The other method would allow the teacher to advance with 
his class through the department and then take an entering 
class. 

Every Junior Department should have a corps of substi- 
tute teachers, or, better still, assistants or helpers, each of 
whom will be prepared each week on a designated lesson for 
the Junior Department, that they may, if necessary, be called 
on at a moment's notice. 

2. Duties of teachers. 

(a) To the Superintendent. To be in his place on time, 
at every session of the school. To co-operate in all the gen- 
eral exercises of the school and secure the co-operation of 
his class by his example so far as possible. To co-operate 
in all general plans for the school and to be present at the 
regular or called meetings of the teachers. To notify the 
Superintendent as early in the week as possible in case of 
expected absence from the school. To secure a substitute to 
take his class in case of absence. To keep the Superintendent 
informed regarding anything connected with his class that 
should come to his notice — as cases of serious illness, or con- 
tinued or unexplained absence. 

(b) To the Class. To be regular in attendance and on time. 
To be reverent and attentive, refusing to converse with the 
class or to allow conversation among them during the opening 



86 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

or closing exercises. To come before the class with a lesson 
so thoroughly prepared that he is full of it. To so know 
his lesson and his class that he will know how to present it 
in a manner that will hold the interest and teach the lesson. 
To know the individual temptations of the members of the 
class, that he may so prepare the lesson as to meet the definite 
needs. To know — be really acquainted with — every boy or girl 
in the class. To invite them to his home and plan for them 
socially. To pray for each one individually. To lead each 
one to know and love Christ. 

(c) To the Home, To know the father and mother in the 
home. To know the child in his home surroundings by visit- 
ing him when he is well and when he is sick. To interest 
the parents in the Sunday-school by keeping them informed 
of the plans and work of the school. To let the parents know 
that the school is vitally interested in their child by following 
him up when he is absent. To secure the co-operation of par- 
ents in securing home work when this is assigned. To make 
the parents realize that the Sunday-school teachers and officers 
are working together with them in winning and holding their 
boys and girls for Christ. 

(d) To Himself. To avail himself of every opportunity 
to increase his efficiency as a teacher. To enjoy with all his 
heart his Sunday-school work. To live Christ every day, with 
an ever-deepening purpose to come into closer and closer 
fellowship that he may better know the heart of Christ, and 
thus better present Him to his boys and girls. 

Lesson Outline: 

I. Qualifications of the Junior Worker, 
i. Christian character. 

2. A natural leader. 

3. Sympathetic understanding. 
II. Departmental Officers. 

1. Superintendent. 

2. Other officers. 



DUTIES OF OFFICERS AND TEACHERS 87 

III. Officers and Teachers. 

1. Election. 

2. Duties of teachers. 

Topic for Special Study: 

1. Personal qualities of some especially successful 
Junior workers. 

Topics for Class Discussion: 

1. The first qualification of a Junior worker. 

2. Why should a Junior worker be a natural leader? 

3. What are some other important qualifications? 

4. What should be the relationship between a Junior 

teacher and his class? 

5. What are the most important duties of the Junior 

Superintendent ? 

6. What other officers should a Junior Department 

have? 

7. What are the principal duties of the Junior teacher? 



CHAPTER IX. 
MATERIALS OF INSTRUCTION 

I. Determination of Materials 

How shall the proper materials of instruction for the 
Junior child be determined? How shall we proceed to de- 
cide upon what the curriculum for this or any department 
of the school shall be ? There are two methods of determina- 
tion: the Logical Method, in well-nigh universal use up to 
very recent times, and the Psychological Method, which is 
coming more and more into vogue in both secular and reli- 
gious education. 

i. The Logical Method. In this method the teacher 

makes a survey of all possible materials of instruction and 

decides upon what ought to be taught the child. 

From the pjj s p r j marv interest is likely to be subjects, and 
Standpoint , . t . , ., , .... 

of the Subject ms secondary interest children; that is, he is 

more concerned about certain subjects, that these 
be taught and conserved, than he is about the child and the 
demands of his nature. 

2. The Psychological Method. In this method the 
teacher first makes an inductive inquiry "as to the nature 

and needs of the life" that is to be developed. 
From the -pj ie ^j^ himself is made the point of departure. 

Standpoint _ . , , , , ... . . - . „ . , 

of the Child " 1S ne ^ tnat " instruction is to be really vital, 
if it is to strengthen and culture and develop the 
growing life, the question first to be considered is as to what 
that life itself demands, what its interests and needs are; and 
second, what will meet and satisfy those interests and needs. 

88 * 



MATERIALS OF INSTRUCTION 89 

There is pretty general agreement to-day among secular 
educators that this latter method is the correct one. 1 More 
and more it is being adopted also by leaders in religious 
education. While it is thus only to-day coming to its own the 
psychological method is by no means a modern conception. 
It was involved as a latent principle in the Protestant Refor- 
mation of the sixteenth century, and it was declared and 
advocated by the great educational reformers of that and suc- 
ceeding periods, notably Comenius, Pestalozzi, and Froebel. 
In our own day it has come to be generally recognized as 
important, and by many as essential to really effective educa- 
tion. The method has wider implications than can be stated 
here. It may be well, however, to present three leading prin- 
ciples involved in it, as these have been stated by Professor 
G. E. Dawson: "(1) Since education is a process of life, 
that material should be selected for educational purposes 
which will help the child to live out its life most completely. 
(2) Since interest is the function of the mind which 
guides the individual in selecting and appropriating suitable 
experience, that material of instruction should be chosen 
which has intrinsic relation to the child's interests. (3) Since 
the life appropriates to itself the material of experience only 
through active response of all its powers, that kind of in- 
struction should be given which calls forth the child's self- 
activity as completely as possible." 



1 "In general education during the last twenty-five years there has 
been the recognition of the necessity of adapting the material of instruc- 
tion to the succeeding stages of the mental development of those in- 
structed. The new education, consequently, is pes do-centric ; that is, it 
puts the pupil at the center and requires the instruction to be adapted to 
his needs. The history of education shows that the pupil for a very long 
while was denied this central position. Education was occupied with sub- 
jects, not with persons; the pupil was regarded simply as a receptacle for 
knowledge, and scant regard was given to the question whether the ma- 
terial of instruction has any special interest to him. He was expected 
and required to receive it whether interested in it or not. The question 
of interest belonged to the instructor, not to the instructed. But modern 
education entirely reverses this. The nature of the pupil and the conse- 
quent needs of the pupil receive first consideration. Modern psychology, 
particularly the study of the child-mind, has shifted the educational cen- 
ter to persons." — J. T. McFarland. 



go THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

We shall proceed to treat the subject of materials of in- 
struction for the Junior period from the standpoint of the 
Psychological Method. 

II. Description of Materials 

Recalling what has been said in earlier chapters on Junior 
characteristics and interests, let us describe the materials 
which will best meet the need. 

i. Hero biography. The man of action, especially if 
qualities of courage and daring are revealed, commends him- 
self to the Juniors. The motor activities are now predomi- 
nant, and action intense and strong is necessary to hold at- 
tention. Hero biography, the lives of Old Testament char- 
acters, and the thrilling experiences of missionaries of more 
recent times is material of the highest value. 

2. History. Closely allied with biography is history. 
"The wide range of its subjects and the variety and manifold- 
ness of characters and accomplishment of persons make it 
valuable as lesson material for this period." The history 
selected must not be reflective but descriptive, not critical 
but realistic, full of deeds of living men. 

"During these years God as a worker in connection with 
human affairs is the chief aspect of His nature which would 
appeal to the boy and girl. The great historical facts of the 
Old and New Testaments, carefully selected and presented 
so as to show God at work among the nations of the world 
through His prophets, messengers, and ministers or mission- 
aries, would appeal to the dominant literary interest, i. e., 
historical narrative; to the love of the heroic, the exciting, 
the adventuresome; and to the strong interest in personality, 
not from the standpoint of character but from that of accom- 
plishment. . . . The child must be shown that God is still 
at work through His ministers and missionaries in all parts 
of the world to-day, and that He has been continuously at 
work since the beginning of the world." (Haslet, Pedagogical 
Bible School.) Contemporary history which gives account 



MATERIALS OF INSTRUCTION 91 

of men who have wrought heroically for God makes an ir- 
resistible appeal to the Junior, and enters into the formation 
of his own ideals. 

3. Geography. This appeals to the nature interest. An 
opportunity is afforded to acquaint the pupil with the ancient 
world which was the theater of action of the heroes and na- 
tions of which he is learning. In point of time the geogra- 
phy should perhaps come first, then when the history is stud- 
ied it will be much more real. 

4. Handwork. This affords a means of keeping the pupil 
active. What is more important, it appeals to his activity and 
his demand for physical expression. Handwork relates itself 
naturally to geography. Maps may be drawn, and models 
made on the sandtable. This subject will be treated in detail 
in a special chapter. 

5. Memorization. No other period offers the opportu- 
nity for learning the divisions and books of the Bible, Bible 
characters, titles of special chapters, verses of peculiar sig- 
nificance and value. Attention should be given to this as a 
regular part of each lesson program. 

That there is substantial agreement among authorities in 
regard to these materials of instruction for the Junior period 
will be seen from the accompanying diagram which repro- 
duces in outline the statements upon the subject of five recent 
important publications. This diagram is worthy of careful 
study. 

III. A Suggested Course 

As employing the psychological method and embodying 
substantially the materials just described, we recommend the 
introduction into the school wherever practicable of the In- 
ternational Graded Lesson Series. 

Various courses of lessons designed to be adapted to the 
different periods of child life have been prepared in recent 
years and used with varying success, but these were either 
individual or denominational, and the preparation of a uni- 



92 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 



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MATERIALS OF INSTRUCTION 93 

term graded tystem became necessary. The International 
Course of Graded Sunday School Lessons planned by the 
International Lesson Committee has now been issued for all 
Sunday-schools. While this plan includes a complete course 
for all departments, it is with the Junior grades that we are 
more particularly concerned. 

i. The plan of the Junior Course. In the preparation of 
these lessons, the aim, as stated, is : 

(i) To awaken an interest in the Bible, and love for it; 
to deepen the impulse to choose and do right. 

(2) To present the ideal of moral heroism; to reveal the 
power and majesty of Jesus Christ, and to show His follow- 
ers going forth in His strength to do His work. 

(3) To deepen the sense of responsibility for right choices; 
to show the consequences of right and wrong choices; to 
strengthen love of the right and hatred of the wrong. 

(4) To present Jesus as our Example and Savior; to 
lead the pupil to appreciate his opportunities for service, and 
to give him a vision of what it means to be a Christian. 

For the Junior period a series of lessons have been out- 
lined covering four years. The regular courses are planned 
for nine months, corresponding to the regular year of the 
secular school. Additional lessons for the three months 
will be valuable as supplemental work. The purpose 
of this is twofold : First, to make it possible for schools 
closing during the summer to complete the regular course; 
and second, to provide for the unavoidable irregularity which 
occurs in every teaching force during the vacation months. 

2. Correlated teaching. The supplemental lessons will 
give way and this material, instead of being taught as some- 
thing outside of and in addition to the regular lessons, con- 
stitutes a related part of the lessons themselves. Included in 
this are facts about the Bible, Scripture passages to be mem- 
orized, and Church hymns for memorization. 

In these lessons the American Standard Revision of the 
Bible is used for all memory texts except where the name 

4 



94 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

Jehovah occurs for the name Lord, in which case the English 
Revised Version is used. The purpose of this is that the 
boys and girls may become attached to the phraseology of 
Text tms version, as the present generation is to the 

words of the King James version, that this, 
which will make the meaning so much clearer and simpler to 
them, may be their version. 

3. Advantages. Account is taken of the knowledge 
which the average pupil has gained in the public school, and 
information is correlated as much as possible. The lessons 
are progressive and each one prepares the way for future 
work. 

In this program of instruction there is "no waste of effort, 
no irrelevancies, no interruption of progress, no inadaptability. 
There is a very profound truth in the saying of the author 
of Ecclesiastes that 'to everything there is a season, and a 
time to every purpose under the heavens/ The soul has its 
seasons which call for certain definite things, its appetencies, 
its peculiar hungerings, its changing interests, its distinct 
impulses. These changing and developing elements in the 
soul's growth determine the 'times' for given forms of in- 
struction and guidance in intellectual and moral education." 
(McFarland.) It is believed these lessons have been so 
determined. 

4. How to introduce the Graded Lessons. The ques- 
tion confronting most Junior Departments is how to adjust 
this plan to our school. Three plans are feasible: First, let 
the entire department begin with the first year's work. On 
promotion to the Intermediate Department the fourth year 
class will have completed one year only of the Junior Course. 
Let the class entering from the Primary Department begin 
with the first year's work, the other three classes taking the 
second year's work, and so on each year until the classes 
naturally adjust themselves to the regular course. 

The second plan is to start each class with the work as- 
signed to that year, graduating at the appointed time, and 



MATERIALS OF INSTRUCTION 95 

again give the classes time to adjust themselves to the regular 
four years' scheme. 

The third plan, necessary for schools so small as to have 
only one class in the Junior Department, is for the entire de- 
partment to begin with the first year's work, and follow on 
with the second year's work the second year, and so forth, 
until the four years' course is completed, then begin over 
again with the first year's work. 

IV. Lessons Supplemental to the Uniform Course 

In those Junior Departments where the Graded Lessons 
are not in use supplementary work should by all means be 
done. 1 Various ways may be suggested for accomplishing 
the memorization of the lessons. 

Where the co-operation of the parents is assured, this 
work may be assigned to be done at home. Unless there be 
the co-operation of the parents, it is exceedingly difficult to 
Home Work preserve any unity in the work of the class if an 
attempt is made to secure the preparation of the 
supplemental or correlated work during the week. The more 
dependable pupils will be faithful and come fully prepared, 
others will make a careless, imperfect preparation, while some 
will forget all about it. The boys or girls who have done 
their work become impatient or lose interest if obliged to 
wait for the others, while if allowed to go ahead they soon 
so out-distance the others as to discourage them from any 
effort. Parents are necessary to successful home study. 

Many teachers are solving this problem by having the class 

come for a twenty-minute or half-hour period before the 

regular opening hour for the Sunday-school. This has an 

'especial advantage as it enables the teacher to prepare the 

way for the lesson of the day while teaching the special les- 



1 Attention is directed to Leaflet No. 12, Supplementary Lessons for 
the Elementary Grades, issued by The Board of Sunday Schools, 14 W. 
Washington Street, Chicago. This leaflet has Supplementary Lessons 
for Junior Grades. Copies may be secured by addressing the Board. 

7 



96 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

son. Other teachers have a mid-week meeting of the class, 
which has its advantage, as it avoids all possibil- 

A Special . r . . r . , . , . , 

Period ^ °* mdenniteness or confusion that might pos- 

sibly arise from the teaching of this work in 
the same period as the Sunday-school lesson. 

The best method is the method that secures the best re- 
sults in your class, whatever that method be. 

Lesson Outline: 

I. Determination of Materials, 
i. The Logical Method. 
2. The Psychological Method. 
II. Description of Materials. 
i. Hero Biography. 

2. History. 

3. Geography. 

4. Handwork. 

5. Memorization. 

III. A Suggested Course. 

1. The plan of the Junior Course. 

2. Correlated teaching. 

3. Advantages. 

4. How to introduce the Graded Lessons. 

IV. Lessons Supplemental to the Uniform Course. 

Topic for Special Study: 

I. The development of the psychological method of de- 
termination of the curriculum. 

Topics for Class Discussion: 

1. What is the procedure of the Logical Method of de- 

termination ? 

2. What is the Psychological Method? 

3. State some principles involved in its use. 

4. State in general terms the materials which will best 

meet Junior interests and needs. 

4 



MATERIALS OF INSTRUCTION 97 

5. What course of lessons is recommended as offering 

these materials? 

6. How may the Junior Graded Lessons be introduced? 

7. Under what circumstances are supplemental lessons 

advisable? 



CHAPTER X 
THE PROBLEM OF ATTENTION 1 

"There are a good many things," says Trumbull, "which 
you would like to have in a scholar which, after all, you can 
get along without; but attention is not one of these. A 
scholar may lack knowledge, he may lack brightness, he may 
lack a good disposition, and yet he may be taught by you. 
But while a scholar lacks attention, teaching him is an im- 
possibility." 

I. What Attention Is 

The mind may be likened to a central station through 
which passes an endless succession of ideas. The mind at- 
tends somewhat to every one of these ideas present in con- 
sciousness, although the statement frequently heard, "I was 
hardly conscious of what he said," may serve to show that in 
many cases the mind attends almost not at all to ideas actually 
present in consciousness during a specified time. But the 
mind is always, to a greater or less extent, focused upon some 
one idea; that is, attending with interest and energy to some 
one idea; that idea, therefore, may be said to receive the at- 
tention of the mind. 

Two good brief definitions are : "Attention is a concentra- 
tion of consciousness upon any idea." (Adams.) "Attention 
is the mental attitude in which the thought-power is actively 
bent forward or fastened upon some object of thought or per- 
ception." (Gregory.) 

The teacher should note that attention is not a passive 
state. Silence must not be mistaken for attention. Attention is 
active; it involves effort and exertion. Its importance rests 

1 Reprinted from another text of this Series, "The Adult Worker and 
His Work," Barclay. 

08 



THE PROBLEM OF ATTENTION 99 

upon the fact, often overlooked by the teacher, that knowl- 
edge is not something which can be passed over bodily from 
Attention is tne mm ^ oi the teacher to the mind of the learner, 
indispensa- Every thought, every idea is an original creation, 
bie to xhe crude materials in the form of sensations 

ing are a jj t ^ at can ^ communicated. The receiv- 
ing mind must take these sensations and from them recon- 
struct the idea ; it is only, therefore, as the mind of the learner 
is actively attentive that the teaching process can go on. No 
teaching without attention should be a familiar axiom to every 
teacher. 

II. Kinds of Attention 

1. Spontaneous attention. (Sometimes called Involun- 
tary, or Attracted, or Passive attention.) There is a certain 
kind and amount of attention which can not possibly be re- 
fused. No matter how engrossed one may be in an interest- 
ing subject, attention is involuntarily attracted by a brilliant 

flash of lightning, by the scream of a child in 
Attention pain, by the shouts of a crowd of street revelers, 

WlthOUt , , • p , , • r™ 

Effort or by the sensation of hunger or thirst. There 

are different varieties; the attention which the 
infant bestows upon the sunbeam playing on its crib is very 
different from that which the hunter gives to tracking the 
game to its lair, or that of the curious woman listening to 
the excited conversation of two neighbors in an adjoining 
yard, yet all three are examples of spontaneous attention. 
Based, in childhood, wholly upon instinct, it broadens with 
the development of the individual so that in mature life what- 
ever interests or delights or satisfies claims spontaneous at- 
tention. It is always given without effort, and with it the 
mind is eager and alert, needing not at all to be spurred to 
action. 

2. Voluntary attention. (Termed also Active or Com- 
pelled attention, or Attention with Effort.) This kind of at- 
tention is so named because it requires an effort of will, some- 



ioo THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

thing of a struggle in order that it may be given. It is willed 
concentration upon something not in itself interesting or at- 
. tractive, for the sake of a conceived good or de- 

With Effort sired end. It lacks the life and vitality which 
characterizes spontaneous attention, and, while 
not always so, it is likely to be mechanical and powerless. 
Two things concerning voluntary attention should be noted: 
the power thus to attend is acquired — young children do not 
have it, and while it is exceedingly valuable and may be ac- 
quired by any one by diligent effort, many people never come 
to possess it; it is almost momentary in its duration — it can 
not be maintained longer than for a few seconds, and so long 
as it is depended upon it must be constantly renewed; that is, 
the mind must be brought back to the point repeatedly ; a suc- 
cession of acts of will is required in order that attention may 
be maintained. 

After this description of the two kinds of attention, it 
scarcely needs to be said that the teacher's dependence for 
satisfactory result must be largely upon the first named, or 
spontaneous attention. To be able to appeal to it is to insure 
that all will be able to respond, and that the work of teaching 
will proceed more smoothly, more pleasantly, and much more 
effectively. 

Attention in children is almost wholly of the spontaneous 
kind. "The younger the child the more difficult it is for him 
to focus attention. Every butterfly sailing across his field of 
vision attracts him; every loud noise; every new appeal to 
any of his senses puts all earlier sensations out of the field of 
consciousness. He drifts from moment to moment at the 
mercy of the haphazard stream of sensations which touch his 
life. . . . Each little mind is engrossed with some affair 
of the moment; the teacher calls sharply for attention and 
for an instant all face her; she begins her explanation and 
the door opens to admit the librarian or some late comer, and 
instantly she has lost everything. She begins with another 
bid for order, but nature has decreed that attention shall be 

4 




THE PROBLEM OF ATTENTION 101 



a matter of moments. One little fellow drops his penny, or 
snatches a hat, or makes some curious noise, and the teacher 
has lost her class again." (Pattee.) The importance is read- 
ily seen of the teacher learning the laws that govern attention. 

III. Laws of Attention 

1. Attention comes in waves. Or, as Professor James 
says, "in beats." It can not be continuously sustained. The 
mind must be constantly re-attracted. In order to thus at- 
tract it, the subject like a moving diamond must constantly 
show new facets. Monotony must be avoided. Constant 
change is demanded. 

2. Appeal must be made to interests. When attention 
wanders recur to some native interest of the pupils. When it 
is desired to touch upon subjects in which an interest does 
not exist, associate the new with some already existing inter- 
est. Means of association are various ; the association may be 
in terms of time, of likeness, of similarity of circumstance, 
of common relation to a third object, or in any other of 
numerous ways which ingenuity may suggest. James gives, 
in effect, the following statement on this process: Begin 
with the line of the person's native interests and offer him 
objects that have some immediate connection with these. 
Next, step by step, connect with these first objects and ex- 
periences the later objects and ideas which you wish to in- 
still. Associate the new with the old in some natural and 
telling way. The two associated objects grow, as it were, 
together; the interesting portion sheds its quality over the 
whole; and thus things not interesting in their own right 
borrow an interest which becomes as real and as strong as 
that which was used as the starting point. 

IV. Methods of Attracting and Holding the At- 

tention 
i. Command or entreaty. We name this method first 
because it is the method most often used, though of the least 
importance. A semblance of attention may usually be gained 

4 



102 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

by asking it, by command, or even by snapping the fingers, 
but at the best it can only be attention of the voluntary type, 
„ m a and unless this appeal is followed immediately 

Enforced , • , , • « 

Attention "y a presentation that has inherent power to 
hold the attention thus gained, the pupils 7 minds 
will be again wandering within a moment, and the last state 
of the teacher will be worse than the first. To retain that 
which has been commanded the subject must be made so in- 
teresting as to arouse spontaneous attention. Occasions 
sometimes arise when it is necessary to recall attention to 
the presentation after it has been distracted by some unusual 
cause, but as little dependence should be placed upon this 
method as possible. The judgment of the psychologist con- 
cerning its use is that the more you have to use this method 
"the less skillful teacher you show yourself to be." 

2. Removal of causes of distraction. This method is 
negative, but deserves notice. Frequently there are little 
things, easily remedied, which are continually distracting the 

attention, such as a creaking door, a rattling 
attention window, noisy chairs, an unsightly article of 

furniture, the passing of papers or of the con- 
tribution basket during the study period. The earnest teacher 
can not afford to overlook even the smallest causes of inat- 
tention. 

3. Offer change and variety. The human mind has an 
instinctive desire for change and variety. While this is espe- 
cially noticeable in the young, it inheres throughout life. 

Not only so; we have seen that it is a character- 
instinctive j st j c Q £ attention, especially of the voluntary 
Desire for . , . „ . * 

Change tyP e » tnat xt can not ke continually sustained. 

These two reasons make it imperative that if 
attention is to be retained the subject be made to exhibit 
constant change and variety. 

There should be variety in method of teaching and recita- 
tion. Routine should be shunned. Change frequently from 
the declarative form of sentence to the interrogative. Ques- 

4 



THE PROBLEM OF ATTENTION 103 

tion in different ways. Address direct questions to the inat- 
tentive. Speak sometimes in the third person; sometimes in 
the first. Frequently bring in brief, apt illustrations. 

The teacher should become adept in such simple arts as 
frequently changing the speaking tone, suddenly raising and 
again decidedly lowering the voice; changing posture and at- 
titude; varying gestures. These useful devices, natural to 
some, must be gradually acquired through effort by others. 

4. Appeal to curiosity. By this means, again, the op- 
portunity is afforded of utilizing a natural instinct. Interest 
may always be aroused by "whetting the appetite of curi- 

t «.• r osity." This should be done in the formal step 
Instinct of _ J . _, . . . „ « . * , 

Curiosity °* preparation. The intimation of hidden causes, 

raising a question as to reasons, hinting at the 

mysterious, appealing to the desire for knowledge, are some 

of the means which may be used. 

5. Present an example of attention. An inattentive 
teacher can not expect to have an attentive class. The source 
of inattention in the class may often be traced to a lack of 

interest on the part of the teacher. Beecher is 
Theinflu- sa id to have instructed the janitor, if he ever 
ence o an discovered a sleeping auditor, to go into the pul- 

Interested . , , t rr-7 i 

Teacher P 1 * anc * awaken the preacher. The teacher may 

well place dependence upon the contagion of en- 
thusiasm. If his preparation of the lesson, his whole atti- 
tude toward teaching, his presentation, all show his interest 
in the subject, his faith in the truth, and his desire to impart 
instruction, this will go far toward winning and holding the 
interest and attention of the class. 

Lesson Outline: 

I. What Attention Is. 

II. Kinds of Attention. 

III. Laws of Attention. 

IV. Methods of Attracting and Holding the Atten- 

tion. 

4 



104 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

Topic for Special Study; 

i. The relation of interest to attention. 

Topics for Class Discussion: 

1. What is the importance of attention in teaching? 

2. What is attention? 

3. Does silence on the part of the pupil always guar- 

antee attention ? 

4. Name, and differentiate between, two kinds of at- 

tention. 

5. Which is the more important, and why? 

6. State two important laws of attention. 

7. Discuss various methods of winning and holding 

the attention. 



CHAPTER XI 
SOME FUNDAMENTALS OF TEACHING 1 

It would seem perfectly obvious that the teacher's task is 
to teach. But is it entirely clear what is meant by these 
words to teach? Has the teacher himself stopped to inquire 
what is involved in them? Is it not a primary need to dis- 
cover just what the teacher is about, how his work is related 
to that which is being done for the child in the public school, 
and to education as a whole, and how best he may proceed 
in order to be sure of accomplishing a worthy result? 

I. What Is Teaching? 

i. Teaching defined. We use the word now in the sense 
of that which the teacher is supposed to do during the brief 
period that he stands before his class. We give three defini- 
tions : Hart, "Teaching is causing another to know." Greg- 
ory, "Teaching is the communication of knowledge — com- 
munication is used here not in the sense of the transmission 
of a mental something from one person to another, but rather 
in the sense of helping another to reproduce the same knowl- 
edge, and thus to make it common to the two." 

Teaching These two definitions make it clear that teach- 
Technically . . , . , , . . 
Defined in £ ls a P rocess m which more than one is in- 
volved; there must be both a teacher and a 
learner; both must be active if knowledge, the objective in 
teaching, is to be conveyed. This twofold aspect is brought 
out in the following definition from Trumbull : "Teaching 
is that part of the twofold learning process by which knowl- 

1 Reprinted from another text of this Series, "The Adult Worker and 
His Work," Barclay. 

105 4 



io6 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

edge which is yet outside of the learner's mind is directed 
toward that mind ; and learning is that part of the same two- 
fold process by which the knowledge taught is made the 
learner's own." 

There can be no teaching, therefore, without learning; 

just in the same measure as the learner learns does the 

teacher teach. This needs to be emphasized; 

eac mga Trumbull was not amiss in devoting several 
Co-operative . , . A _ , ,._ , 

Process pages of his work for teachers (Teachers and 

Teaching," pp. 9-15) to laying stress upon the 
fact that telling is not teaching, and, in fact, can not be. 

2. Teaching and education. Teaching in the technical 
sense, as defined above, is only a part of the larger process of 
education. The mistake, so frequently made in connection 
Education a w ^ tne wor k of the public schools, of regarding 
Larger Pro- man simply as mind to be informed, must not be 
cess than repeated in the Sunday-school. This conception 
Teaching dominated the teaching of the State schools for 
many decades ; we may be thankful that there has been a de- 
cided revolt against it in recent years. From Pestalozzi 1 
down, many of the greatest educators have both protested 
against it and proclaimed a better standard, nevertheless it 
still holds sway in much contemporary thinking. For in- 
stance, a recent writer of some prominence in the Sunday- 
school world makes this statement, "Sunday-school teaching 
is hardly teaching proper, as it has moral and spiritual ends 
in view." This is a belated remnant of the old intellectualistic 
notion of education which identified education with mere in- 
struction. To the religious man, who regards men as spir- 
itual beings, and the religious as the highest capacity of the 
soul, it is impossible to be satisfied with any conception of 
education which means merely acquisition of knowledge; any 



1 Pestalozzi's conception of education is well expressed in these words: 
"Education relates to the whole man and consists in drawing forth, per- 
fecting and strengthening all the faculties with which an all-wise Creator 
has endowed him, physical, intellectual, and moral." And again, "Educa- 
tion has to do with the hand, the head, and the heart." 

4 



SOME FUNDAMENTALS OF TEACHING 107 

education worthy of the name must have reference to the 
whole man . 

3. The larger work of the teacher. The work of the 

teacher is, therefore, a larger work than is comprehended in 

the term teaching as used in the technical sense. "Teaching 

is a species of creation. The teacher has to do 

he True w ^ ^ man as m j n H as will, as heart, as spirit. 
Teacher is ' 

an Educator The teacher s task, therefore, is that of educating 

the mind to perceive clearly, training the will to 

act rightly, moving the heart to feel strongly, inspiring the 

spirit to be like God. Only as the teacher fulfills this mission 

in greater or less measure does he become truly an educator. 

II. The Task of the Sunday-school Teacher 

What, now, is the Sunday-school teacher about? The in- 
stitution with which he is connected exists to serve man as a 
spiritual being. The assumption on which it rests is that the 
_,_- _ greatest need of the child is to be brought into 

The Sunday ?!-„-- . , « . , ,., « , 

School n * e — tne largest, richest, highest life; and that 

Teacher Has life it conceives to be the sharing of the life of 
Regard to God — His character and joy." It insists that, in 

H^h^t*** order to the attamment of this highest goal of 
interests ^fe, the whole of man's nature must be devel- 
oped; but since the secular schools place almost 
exclusive stress on intellectual development, it devotes itself 
to the service of those other, the most important and, strange 
to say, most neglected interests. It holds that to a trained 
and informed intelligence must be added an illuminated con- 
science, a righteous will, a rich emotional nature, and a sense 
of God. Its high purpose is to take the child whom the 
schools are developing into a thinking machine and make of 
him a patriotic and loyal citizen, a conscientious and sym- 
pathetic neighbor, a self-sacrificing and devoted father; in 
these, and all other possible relationships of life, truly a child 
of God. A high, noble, and magnificent task is this, than 
which no greater can possibly exist on earth. 

4 



io8 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

III. The How of the Teacher's Task 

i. By teaching. In part, at least, by teaching in the spe- 
cific sense of conveying instruction. We have by no means 
meant, in what we have said above, to rule out the element 
of instruction. The first work of the Sunday- 
instruction 5^001 teacher is to instruct. There are other 

isFundamen- , „ , . , , . . 

tai to Life elements of his task not less in importance. Some 
of these have already been discussed. Others 
will be presented later. In this chapter we must confine our- 
selves to teaching considered as instruction. It ought, how- 
ever, to be said here that teaching the Bible intelligently and 
wisely is to do more than to add information to the learner's 
intellectual stock; it is to furnish the soul with high purposes 
and pure motives, to illuminate and quicken the conscience, 
to strengthen the will in right-doing, and to enrich the feeling 
nature. 

Biblical instruction becomes the more important inasmuch 
as the Scriptures have been ruled out of the public schools, 
and whatever knowledge of them is to be possessed must be 
gained in the home and in the Sunday-school. 

2. The teaching process. Given a certain lesson to be 
taught during a certain hour, how is the teacher to proceed 
to teach this lesson to the class? In a particular case, what 
are the formal steps in the teaching process? 

Modern education is indebted to Herbart, a German phi- 
losopher and educator, for the enunciation of principles which 
are everywhere recognized as of the first importance. "Her- 

TT L , bart approached the teacher's task from the stand- 

Herbart's ... , , , , ... 

Principles point of psychology and made a system which 

follows the workings of the human mind. Ac- 
cording to Herbart, the formal steps in the teaching of a par- 
ticular lesson may be thus briefly and simply stated: I. Prep- 
aration; 2. Presentation; 3. Association and Comparison; 
4. Generalization; 5. Practical Application. 

McMurry illustrates these steps by an analogy taken from 
the work of the farmer: "1. The soil is plowed, harrowed, 



! 



SOME FUNDAMENTALS OF TEACHING 109 

and made ready for the seed. 2. The grain is sowed upon 
the ready soil and raked in. 3. The growing grain is culti- 
vated and the weeds destroyed. 4. The harvest is brought in. 
5. The grain is used for practical purposes of food." 1 

(a) Preparation. The lesson is to be introduced by a 
preliminary discussion, in which the object of the teacher is to 

discover common ground between himself and those 
Discover a w h om ^ e j s attempting to teach, and between the 

Point of ,,.««*. . i 1 

Contact truth which he desires to communicate, and those 

to whom it is to be communicated. Coleridge said, 
"We can not make another comprehend our knowledge until 
we first comprehend his ignorance," to which saying Trumbull 
adds the comment: "So long as we suppose a scholar to 
know what he does not know we shall refrain from causing 
him to know that, and in consequence we shall be unable to 
cause him to know anything beyond that — anything to the un- 
derstanding of which that is a prerequisite." The necessity 
for this step is based upon the principle that a new idea can 
only be received and understood by the mind by the assist- 
ance of some idea already possessed. The unknown is al- 
ways interpreted in terms of the known. 

(b) Presentation. In any particular lesson the first step 
should have revealed pretty definitely what the members of 
_ . . . the class know upon the general subject of the 

■Bringing in , _ . . 

New ideas lesson. The second step has been described as 
"bringing in fresh thought or knowledge to lay 
by the side of that which is already possessed." 

The purpose at this time should not be to present the 
largest possible number of new ideas. Indeed, it is often ad- 
visable to pay no attention to some of the ideas of the chap- 
ter or section. Merely to exhaust the lesson by bringing out 
every possible teaching which it comtains is poor ambition. 
The teacher must exercise choice and select certain principal 
ideas. His choice should not be arbitrary, but governed by 
the following principles : 

1 "How to Conduct the Recitation," p. 16. 



no THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

Those ideas should be selected which the previous prep- 
aration has revealed may be most clearly and effectively pre- 
sented. Regard should be had, of course, to relative impor- 
tance; also to the special moral and spiritual 
oose eas neec j s f t he members of the class as these are 
Presented known through the teachers acquaintanceship 
with them. Some local or national event of re- 
cent occurrence may have rendered a particular teaching of the 
lesson especially opportune — such possibility for enforcing an 
important lesson should not be overlooked. 

Regard should be had for continuity of teaching. That is 
to say, this particular lesson should be related to preceding 
and following lessons. As a rule, any one particular lesson 
Establish * s a P art either of a certain definite course of 
Connection study, or is one of a series of lessons through 
Between which there runs some continuity of thought. 

Lessons ^ Q re i ate tm ^ i esson to what has gone before 

will reinforce the effect of previous teaching, serve to make 
clearer the present truths, and by association aid remem- 
brance. For lack of the observance of this principle a series of 
lessons too often remains in the learner's mind as a meaning- 
less medley rather than as a hymn of many verses, each utter- 
ing a distinct truth of its own, yet all on one common theme. 

The manner of presentation is important. The teacher 
of children will often present the truths of the lesson in story 
form; adults who have long passed the story period are yet 
not unaffected by manner of presentation; the very words 
which come from the lips of one teacher as dull and prosy 
fairly glow and burn their way into the heart as presented 
by another. 

(c) Association and comparison. This step aims to make 
Association clear what has been presented by associating it 
Acquaints the and comparing it with what the learner already 
Mind with knows. Association furnishes the ties by which 
the stranger is firmly fastened in the mind, while 
comparison acquaints the mind with the new idea. This step 



SOME FUNDAMENTALS OF TEACHING in 

taken, the new idea is no longer external and strange, but 
now the mind's own familiar possession. 

This step is fundamental and important, for the mind al- 
ways acts by way of association; the known is always used 
to interpret, explain, classify the unknown. We invariably 
describe a strange object by telling what it is like. In the 
process of thought, association of ideas proceeds according 
to two laws, that of Similarity and that of Contiguity; that is, 
one object in thought may suggest another like itself, or it 
may suggest another, which at some previous time preceded 
or followed it in experience. An endless procession passes 
through the mind in accord with these two laws. The teacher 
should familiarize himself with the ordinary processes of 
thought, of which this is but a suggestion. 

This outline statement may serve to emphasize the im- 
portance of making use of association in teaching. As a means 
of doing this the various forms of illustration will be most 
«.t_ „ , , serviceable; indeed, just here is found the most 

The Value of . ' _-' • . , . , , , 

illustration important use of illustration, which has been 
termed "the chief and central power in the teach- 
er's art." Under illustration is included simile, metaphor, con- 
trasts, parallel instances, objects as illustrative material, and 
incidents from experience. 

In the teaching of the lesson the teacher will find it help- 
ful to group various ideas and truths together, as (a) similar, 
as (b) contrasted, or as (c) representing some principle of 
contiguity. 

(d) Generalization. This is the period of the harvest. At 
Advance tms stage the general principle which grows out 

from the of the particular facts or statements of the les- 

Particuiar to son [ s brought forward. This step involves pro- 
tne General cee( jj n g f rom the particular, through reflection, 
to the general. 

To illustrate just what is involved in this step: In child- 
hood we make a series of observations as regards fire. The 
fire burns the wood in the stove. The fire in the grate burns 
8 * 



ii2 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

the coal. The gas flame burns the moth. The fire in the 
field burns the dry grass. After a number of such particular 
observations we probably make the generalization : Fire burns 
all materials. Somewhat later a wider experience causes us 
to correct this too sweeping generalization. Likewise, lying 
back of all the facts of which our experience is made up are 
general truths not at first recognized. Gradually by compar- 
ing, contrasting, rearranging like groups we are able to form- 
ulate from the large number of particular facts certain gen- 
eral truths which we term principles or laws. Exactly the 
same thing must be done in the teaching of a lesson. Unless 
this step of formulating a general principle is taken, all that 
has preceded is comparatively useless. The various particulars 
which have been presented remain in the mind as an unor- 
ganized mass without significance. "Who does not know 
teachers who unceasingly cram their pupils with individual 
facts, having but little regard to their true meaning and their 
relation to the significant general truth which may be derived 
from these facts, in themselves entirely insignificant ?" (De 
Garmo.) 

Generalization is a process of induction. The importance 

of induction, as contrasted to deduction, in Bible teaching 

may well be emphasized in this connection. In popular Bible 

study and in average Sunday-school teaching de- 

Importance ..«,,,. 1 , « • 

of induction auction has had relatively too large a place. Let 
us first make clear the meaning of these terms. 
Induction, as should be already understood from what has 
been said above, is the ascent from particulars to the general ; 
drawing a conclusion from a number of observed facts. In- 
duction is the method commonly used in science; it is pre- 
eminently the method of scientific discovery. Observation 
after observation, fact after fact is set down, and finally, 
on the basis of these, a conclusion is reached in the form 
of a law. 

Deduction, on the other hand, is the laying down of a 
general statement as a law and seeking for particular facts 



SOME FUNDAMENTALS OF TEACHING 113 

which will substantiate this law as true. This is much the 
simpler and easier process. The old, familiar method in 
Sunday-school teaching was to state a doctrine or a rule of 
conduct and cite Biblical examples and texts in proof. Other 
teachers, not so well versed in doctrine, perhaps, contented 
themselves by making general statements and then citing les- 
son verses in substantiation. The weakness of 

Deduction ^ s procedure may easily be seen. Persons may 
too Fre- . * / J e 

quently Used bring to the Bible almost any sort of precon- 
ceived notion and find some Biblical statement 
which may at least be made to lend color to it. Induction, 
which seeks first to discover exactly what the Bible says, not 
in one instance only, but in a large number of instances, and 
then on the basis of this to reach a conclusion, may readily 
be seen to be a much more true and valuable method. 

The common fault in this step of generalization is that 
of reaching a general conclusion on the basis of too few 
particulars. The teacher should constantly guard against this. 
It is the fallacy of snap judgments which in actual fife are 
often so unjust. 

(e) Practical Application. "The sermon is done?" asked 

a late comer, anxiously, meeting the minister at the door of 

the church. "The sermon has been spoken," said the minister ; 

"it remains to be done." Most important of all 

Translating j g ^ £ na j step j fl ^ teaching process, putting 

into Conduct to P ra ctical use what has been learned. This final 
step involves the application of the general prin- 
ciple, newly derived, to new particulars. We mean by this 
not so much making the application or applying the moral, 
as these phrases are commonly used, as translating the theory 
into practice in the every-day life of the child. Emphasis 
should constantly be laid upon the fact that all instruction in 
the Sunday-school is vain unless it actually modifies conduct. 
It is not for the purpose of supplying facts or information, 
nor merely for increasing and deepening the feeling life; it 
is for the purpose of supplying basic moral and ethical prin- 

4 



1 14 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

ciples which may guide action and control conduct during 
the week. 

3. General comment on the formal process. The five 
steps in the formal process of teaching a lesson ought to be 
made the familiar possession of every teacher. The plan is 
not presented with the thought that it will be rigidly adhered 
to in the teaching of every lesson, either by the Adult or by 
the Elementary teacher, rather that it will serve as a working 
plan — a guide, by the wise use of which the teacher will be 
aided in planning how to teach the lesson. Concerning this, 
McMurry well says : "Now, it is evident that no plan based 
on these principles will furnish a royal road to success in 
teaching. Success along this line depends upon industry, 
adaptability, and continuous practice. . . . (Moreover) it 
is not intended that this plan and these principles shall make 
a slave of the teacher, but that by hard-earned mastery of 
their details, and by a successful application of them to the 
concrete materials of study, he gradually works his way out 
into the clear daylight of conscious power." 

Lesson Outline: 

I. What is Teaching? 

1. Teaching Defined. 

2. Teaching and Education. 

3. The Larger Work. 

II. The Task of the Sunday-school Teacher. 
III. The How of the Teacher's Task. 

1. By Teaching. 

2. The Teaching Process. 

3. General Comment on the Formal Process. 

Topic for Special Study: 

1. Herbart's Principles as stated by himself. 



SOME FUNDAMENTALS OF TEACHING 115 

Topics for Class Discussion: 

1. What do you understand teaching to be? 

2. What is the distinction between teaching and edu- 

cation? 

3. What is the task of the Sunday-school teacher? 

4. How is he to accomplish the performance of this 

task? 

5. Why is preparation so important a step in the for- 

mal process of teaching? 

6. State the principles which should control in the 

presentation of a lesson. 

7. What is the meaning and significance of Association 

as a formal step in teaching? 

8. Explain what is meant by Generalization? 

9. What is involved in Application as the final step in 

the teaching process? 



CHAPTER XII 
TEACHING THE JUNIOR CLASS 

I. The Teacher's Preparation 

i. Spiritual preparation. The teacher must feel as well 
as know the truth he would teach. He should realize that 
he is the religious instructor of the child, and that religious 
teaching is as much of the heart as of the head. It is his part 
to bring the pupil face to face with God, and he can not do 
this unless he is himself in communion with the Eternal. 
He should pray over his lesson as well as pore over it. He 
should make sure that the truth grips his own 
tion of Heart sou ^ an( * finds expression in his own life before 
he tries to teach it to others. He should en- 
deavor to go before the class prepared to put the message 
forward and hide himself behind it. "I" must be a medium 
of truth, not an obstruction to it. Above all, he should claim 
divine grace for the exercise of patience, kindness, and sym- 
pathy. He will meet indifference, rebuffs, and dullness, but 
there will be no enemies which can not in time be conquered 
by these graces in combination with tact, faith, and love. 

2. A prompt beginning in lesson study. The teacher 
should begin lesson preparation early in the week. Thirty 
minutes a day from Tuesday on will mean more than a whole 
half day on Saturday or Sunday. The mind should have 
time to become thoroughly acquainted with the truth to be 
taught. If one familiarizes himself with the lesson early 
in the week, every day's experiences will bring their contri- 
bution to its teaching. An illustration fresh from the teach- 
er's experience will mean vastly more than one which has 
lain for weeks embalmed in a lesson help. The teacher 

116 4 



TEACHING THE JUNIOR CLASS 117 

would do well to have a note-book in which illustrations, 
original thoughts on the lesson, and comments 
Preparation gleaned from general reading might be recorded 
from day to day. The teacher does not five who 
has a valid excuse for making lesson preparation to consist 
in a few hurried moments of frantic reading late on Satur- 
day night or early on Sunday morning. 

3. The needs of the pupils. The teacher's preparation 
should have constantly in view the needs of his own class. 
As he sits with the lesson before him the boys or girls of his 
class must pass in procession between his eyes and the lesson 
book. Every truth must be personally pointed. Aimless 
teaching accomplishes nothing. The teacher's preparation 

should make "him fruitful in expedients in win- 
repanng: o n - m „ ^he attention of each pupil in the class ; 

TeachCertain . ° .. t . „ * * . f ' 

Individuals 2t should suggest devices for enlisting the inter- 
est of each. No two successive . lessons can be 
presented in just the same way and hold the interest of 
Juniors. Variety must be sought. The pupils must never be 
allowed to feel that they know exactly what is coming next. 

4. A lesson plan. All of which suggests the importance 
of a definite lesson plan. The making of this plan is an es- 
sential part of the lesson preparation. No lesson can be 

taught successfully unless it is carefully planned 

Z, e . in advance. The plan presented in the lesson 

Teacher's . , . T . . 

Own Plan text 1S mel *ely suggestive. It is not for a mo- 
ment intended that it should be slavishly adhered 
to by every teacher. When this and other helps have been 
consulted the teacher should then face the question, How can 
I best present this lesson to my class? In the light of his 
best thought on this question he should prepare his plan. 

It will frequently happen that the most carefully prepared 
plan will have to be departed from when the lesson hour ar- 
rives. Some unforeseen incident, a manifestation of special 
interest on the part of some members of the class, or some 
other equally good reason may make it wise to turn away 

4 



n8 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

from the plan. A wide-awake teacher will discover some of 

his finest opportunities for enforcing truth in such ways as 

these. 

Every moment must be made to count. No time must be 

lost either at the beginning or the close of the lesson. The 

period allotted to the Sunday-school in which to do its work 

is all too brief. The first five minutes go far toward decid- 

„ ing the character of the whole hour. An urifa- 

Economy 

of Time vorable impression created in the first moments 

is exceedingly difficult to overcome. So also 
with the close of the period. The final and abiding impres- 
sion is largely determined by the last moments. The lesson 
to be most effective must be cumulative. The strongest im- 
pressions should come last. For a teacher to break down 
at any of these important points, or to say at the close of the 
lesson, "I only got half through the lesson," is to confess a 
failure the first cause of which lay in a defective lesson plan. 

II. Before the Lesson Begins 

The teacher will be in his place at least ten minutes before 
the hour for opening, that he may greet the members of the 
class as they arrive, discover any special interest of the pupils 
for that particular day, and gain control of the situation be- 
fore mischief gets the upper hand. 

Hats and wraps of the class should be properly disposed 
of before the opening of the session. The pupils should be 
supplied with Bibles, if they do not bring their own, and these 
should be used during the lesson hour. The 
Details* teacher's text-book or printed help should be 

relegated to the book case or table, not to appear 
during the session. The teacher may better dispense with 
helps of any sort, even written notes. The pupils have a 
right to ask how the teacher expects them to remember what 
he has not been able to remember himself. 

Whatever appliances are to be used in connection with 
the lesson, whether maps, blackboard, or note-books, should 



TEACHING THE JUNIOR CLASS 119 

be so arranged that they may be turned to without a mo- 
ment's delay. If note-books are to be used, each pupil should 
be supplied with pencil and any other needed materials in 
advance. 

Careful attention should be given to the arrangement of 
chairs for the class. The half circle is the best arrangement 
for a small group, the teacher placing himself at a point 

opposite the center of the arc, thus : When this 

arrangement is properly made all ^^^^^V members 
of the class will be equidistant from the teach- 

er. If the class has more than ten members a double row of 
chairs should be so arranged as that no pupil is directly be- 
hind another, thus : On no account have a long 
row of chairs if it ,f ~**V\ can possibly be avoided. 
Where the class / • N has a table for its use have 
the class seated about three sides, the teacher taking his 
place alone on the fourth side. 

III. Point of Contact 

1. Its importance in teaching Juniors. In all teaching 
it is absolutely necessary to find a foundation on which to 
build. The only possible foundation is previous experience 
and knowledge. The unknown is interpreted in terms of the 
known. Truth is received and appropriated only through 
knowledge already attained. As De Garmo says : "If noth- 
ing springs forth from within to greet that coining from 
without, the lesson will be meaningless and the pupil unrecep- 
tive. Things new and strange can only be appropriated by 
means of a wealth of old ideas, and the plan of recitation 
must see to the preparation of these materials during the 
first step." 

The bit of previously attained knowledge or experience 
by means of which the new truth sought to be taught is in- 
terpreted and appropriated is called the point of contact. 
Nowhere is it more important that attention be given to this 
than in teaching Juniors. Their experience is limited. They 

4 



120 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

are more reticent than in earlier years, unwilling to expose 

their lack of knowledge by asking for explana- 
Securing a . _ r ., , n • « « 

Foundation tions. If they are to be really taught the teacher 

must draw out by careful questioning what they 

really know about the subject to be presented. 1 It is well 

to call up as many related ideas as possible. 

We must also beware, in dealing with these boys and girls, 
of making the opposite mistake. It will not do to assume that 
they know nothing of the subject in hand, or indeed to under- 
estimate their knowledge in the least. Already they are be- 
ginning to think of themselves as grown-ups; to patronize 
them, to underestimate their knowledge, is immediately to 
close the door to both their minds and hearts. 

2. Examples of its use. In taking up the study of Moses 
in the Graded Lessons a certain teacher opened her lesson by 
asking if any one could tell her anything about the Obelisk, 
or Cleopatra's Needle, in New York City. Almost every 
boy in the class had heard of it, and a lively discussion fol- 
lowed, through which by interspersed questions as to its age, 
origin, and history the minds of the pupils were led back 
to the time of Moses, and the things which that obelisk had 
seen and could tell about if it could talk. The land of Moses 
as the home of the obelisk was far more interesting than as 
the home of Moses, and Moses became a part of that land. 

In the lesson of the Visit of the Wise Men a teacher 
introduced her lesson by the telescope in a nearby university, 
through which some of the girls had looked at the stars, and 
about which every one could tell something, and from the as- 
tronomers of to-day it was an easy step to the astrologers and 
wise men of old. 

Frequently the review of the previous lesson, especially if 
a map has been used, is the best possible point of contact. 

1 "For a teacher, as sometimes happens, to come away from a lesson 
and not know whether the children had ever had a lesson on that^ subject 
before or whether any of them had ever read anything about it, is in all 
probability to have wasted not only time and energy, but a golden op- 
portunity of enlisting the pupils' willing co-operation." — Mark, "The 
Teacher and the Child," p. 82. 

4 



TEACHING THE JUNIOR CLASS 121 

When not the review itself, it may lead naturally into the 
review, and through the review to the lesson. The review is 
the pupil's part, and should be so conducted that each has 
something to do. The questions should touch on facts and 
not be answerable by yes and no. When necessary, reference 
should be made to the Bible. 

IV. Lesson Presentation 

1. As to method of presentation. We come now to the 
second step in teaching the lesson, the bringing forward of 
the new truth which we wish to impress. In teaching Jun- 
iors we are dealing with children in the last period in which 
the story makes its pre-eminent appeal. It does not now have 
quite the attraction it once had, although with the younger 
Juniors especially it takes hold quite as powerfully as any 
other method of presentation. It is wise, therefore, at least 
part of the time, to present the new material in story form. 
Occasionally it will be well to adopt the conversational 
method of presentation, in which the teacher asks questions 

„. ., of members of the class, supplementing their 

Possible , 1 . , - 

Methods statements by his own, by way of correction or 

addition. The aim in this interchange of thought 
should be to aid the pupils to discover the truths of the les- 
son for themselves. It was his persistent use of this form 
of teaching which made Socrates one of the most famous 
of the world's teachers. To be effective the teacher must use 
skill and tact in framing and addressing his questions. Where 
the pupils have studied the lesson in advance this method 
becomes in effect the recitation method. 

Whatever method of presentation is most depended upon 
by the teacher there should be variety. The teacher should 
not allow his pupils to feel that they know to a certainty just 
how he is going to proceed in teaching the lesson. He can 
not afford to dispense with the attraction which variety has 
for Junior boys and girls. 

2. One central truth. The teacher should select some 

4 



122 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

one central truth of the lesson, or at most two or three prin- 
cipal ideas, upon which stress is to be laid. Ofttimes we 
try to teach so much that our pupils learn nothing. The gun 
that scatters carries no destruction. One may 

e eces- £ ee j t ^ a t he is losing an opportunity in passing 
sity of Con- , , , , . \ . , . 

centration °y some °f the truths which are contained in 

a lesson; as a matter of fact he loses his one 
great opportunity of really teaching something if he does not 
pass by some in order to concentrate on one or two principal 
truths. "The feeling of eagerness to bring all the truths one 
can into a single lesson is spiritually unhealthy and feverish." 
Recall the principles stated in the preceding chapter, which 
should govern in the selection of the central truth or truths. 

To take an example, let us suppose the lesson to be the 
Parable of the Tares (Mt. 13: 24-30). Several generalizations 
are clearly taught by this parable. Some of the clearest are 
these : Evil influences as well as good are abroad in the world ; 
while good men are not watching, the agents of evil get in 
their work. God is patient with evil. Even as a time of 
harvest comes so will there be a time of judgment when the 
good and the evil will be separated, the good rewarded and 
the evil destroyed. This latter is the teaching which Jesus 
brings out when the disciples ask for an interpretation of the 
parable. There is another teaching, however, which is very 
important for Juniors to learn. That grows out of the fact 
that the householder commands his servants to let the tares 
stand with the wheat because they can not remove the one 
without injuring the other. This plainly teaches us that if 
we should attempt a separation between the evil and the 
good we would both injure and err. It is not for us to at-» 
tempt to judge and condemn. That is for those who are 
wiser than mortal men. This teaching Jesus Himself else- 
where stated in compact form in the injunction, "Judge not, 
that ye be not judged." The Junior teacher may well choose 
this as the central truth, passing by the other teachings of the 
parable in order to lay stress upon this which is especially 
important for boys and girls of this age. 4 



TEACHING THE JUNIOR CLASS 123 

The central thought selected should be a living truth, a 
truth that bears some relation to the life which the pupil has 
to live. There are many abstract truths contained in the 
lessons which it would be well for the pupil to know. But 
the time allowed for Sunday-school teaching is exceedingly 
brief, one hour a week. Meanwhile as the weeks and months 
pass these boys and girls are forming life habits and life 
ideals. For their sakes be content to pass by matters of com- 
parative moment in order to impress deeply a few all impor- 
tant life truths. 

One lesson period is not sufficient in which to teach a pre- 
eminent truth. If the instruction sought to be given is really 
to tell in life building the truth must be reiterated, presented 
in all its phases, emphasized in various ways. The lessons of 
one month, or of an entire quarter, may well be devoted to 
the presentation in variety and power of some one truth of 
first importance to the Junior. 1 Hit and miss teaching, this 
week one subject, next week touching on three or four dif- 
ferent subjects, the week following skipping to something en- 
tirely different, accomplishes next to nothing. Our opportu- 
nity for life building is too precious to be thus wasted. 

3. General suggestions on Presentation. "Never tell a 



1 "There must be a well-defined central truth in every lesson. But 
another step is necessary: the central truths of all the lessons in the 
whole series of lessons should bear upon and enforce one great culmi- 
nating central truth. Next Sunday's lesson should build upon this Sun- 
day's lesson, and so on and on, and every Sunday's teaching should 
simply make clearer the central teaching of the whole quarter. With 
children this is imperative. The child who learns of God's love to-day, 
and the necessity of obedience to parents the next week, and the dangers 
of spiritual blindness the week following, is getting beads with no thread 
to string them on. He can not co-ordinate his material. It becomes at 
length a mere mass of unrelated facts in no condition to use or to serve 
as the basis for the gaining of other facts. How much better, especially 
with children, to dwell week after week upon some single truth: Obe- 
dience, for instance, — Tacob's obedience, Joseph's obedience, Noah's obe- 
dience, and so on; and then, at the end of the month or the quarter, to 
sum it all up in one great lesson of the duty of obedience to father and 
mother and teacher and God. . . . Every lesson in the series should 
be viewed from the standpoint of this great central purpose. Such teach- 
ing is scientific. It is a building up little by little upon the materials al- 
ready acquired. . . . The new system of Graded Lessons will make 
this kind of teaching natural and easy." — Pattee, "Elements of Religious 
Pedagogy," p. 167. 4 



124 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

Junior anything he can tell you or can find out for himself," 
is a good rule to follow. Remember that love of investigation 
is a natural characteristic of Juniors ; let them find out a good 
many things for themselves. The custom of reading the lesson 
in turn about the class, whether all are ready readers or not, 
is too much in use. Reading in turn, occasionally, may be 
advisable, but the reading of verses by those who simply 
stumble through them is one of the most effective ways of 
killing interest in the lesson. If the lesson is a dialogue read 
it as such. The topics or questions assigned the previous 
week must, without fail, be called for. These assignments 
may be to look up and be able to locate on the map certain 
places, to give certain facts, or to be prepared to tell an inci- 
dent or brief story that will illustrate a given point in the 
lesson. 

V. Illustrations 

The third step in the teaching process as enunciated by 
Herbart is association. The purpose of this step is to make 
the new truth presented perfectly clear by associating it with 
previously possessed knowledge. Association serves the ad- 
ditional purpose of reinforcing the new truth by binding to- 
gether the old and the new. It is at this point that illustra- 

_ _ . tions become exceedingly valuable. Literally, to 
The Service .„ , , • , 

ofiiiustration illustrate means to make luminous, or to throw 

light upon. The light can only come from some 

idea that is already familiar. In order, therefore, to be able 

to bring effective illustrations, the teacher must be acquainted 

with what the pupils already know. If the illustrations used 

present new or unfamiliar ideas they are of no help whatever. 1 

It is clear that in choosing illustrations the teacher must 

have regard to the makeup of his class. To speak of the 

1 "Companion ideas are needed in order that the new idea may be 
really at home in the mind. . . . If we give the children time to 
think, or help them by hints or questions, they will sometimes be able to 
discover some of these companion ideas or helpful examples for them- 
selves; in other words, to illustrate the new fact out of their own expe- 
riences."— Mark, "The Teacher and the Child," p. 84. 

4 



TEACHING THE JUNIOR CLASS 125 

farmer sowing grain, or of plowing or harrowing, in a class 
made up of city children who have never so much as visited 
the country would be to darken counsel rather than to illumi- 
nate. The wise teacher is therefore continually studying the 
class. "She watches them in their play, she finds out theis 
little interests and enthusiasms, she gets as much as she can 
of their home environment, and she uses all of this material 
for illustration of her teaching. . . . The illustration that 
illuminates is the one that is taken right out of the life of the 
person who is being taught." 

VI. Generalization 

This step in the teaching process should involve the stating 
by the pupils in their own words of the central truth or truths 
of the lesson. The teacher should patiently endeavor to win 
The Pupil to *h* s statement from the pupils ; it carries greatly 
Formulate increased weight if it is their own formulation, 
the General Never mind if it is at first awkwardly expressed, 
it may be more real and vital on that account. 
The teacher can easily express it in more polished form later. 

Sometimes the generalization may remain unexpressed, es- 
pecially if the presentation has been in story form. 1 Trust 
the pupils to draw the moral for themselves. If it has been 
a good story, well told, to put the moral into words may make 
it seem trite and common-place. Says Professor Adams, "To 
supply ready-made morals to stories is bad teaching.'* It is 
hard for inexperienced teachers to realize the wisdom of this, 
but it is a principle which has won general acceptance. Read, 
for example, Hawthorne's story of "Midas and the Golden 
Touch." It has no moral tacked on at the end; but who 
could read it without being strongly impressed with the use- 



1 "Sometimes, especially with young children, it seems advisable not 
to teach the rule at all, relying upon the concrete facts — whatever their 
nature — to suggest it of themselves. ... It requires much delicacy 
on the part of the teacher, especially when teaching morals, to distin- 
guish what is best to be done in this regard." — McMurry, "The Method 
of the Recitation," p. 204. 

4 



126 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

lessness of mere gold? To try to frame this teaching into a 
moral would almost surely weaken the impression. 

VII. Application 

This step reaches out beyond the Sunday-school room and 
the lesson hour into the daily life of the pupil. Only that is 
really taught which actually affects and influences conduct. 
The resulting action in turn deepens and intensifies the im- 
pression of the truth. As Professor James puts it: "An im- 
pression which simply flows in at the pupil's eyes or ears and 
in no way modifies his active life, is an impression gone to 
waste. ... Its motor consequences are what clinch it." 

Especially in the Sunday-school is it true that we are not 

concerned merely, or even primarily, in imparting knowledge. 

Our purpose is to form Christian character. If, then, in our 

teaching we stop short of the application in actual 

T , r . u \ h ^ p .^ every-day life, we fail of our real purpose. Here 

plied Builds . . 

Character again we run counter to much common practice. 
Many teachers have concerned themselves with 
teaching theories, doctrines widely separated from life, and 
beliefs to be held as a sort of religious insurance. They 
might better interest themselves in teaching their boys 
and girls how to conduct themselves on the street, on the 
playground, in the school, and the home; in showing them 
how they can be Christian boys and girls, and in gaining the 
decision of their wills to go forth and live as they have been 
taught. The application can not be forced. It must come as 
the free choice of the child himself. But let the teacher make 
sure that that choice has been made before the lesson is en- 
tirely passed by. It will sometimes be helpful to ask the 
pupils how the truth which has been taught may be applied 
actively to daily life; again, to ask for examples of occasions 
which illustrate its application. 

The teacher should regard the application as the most im- 
portant part of his task of teaching; whatever else he does or 
fails to do, he must not stop short of leading his pupils to 
use the truth which he makes it his object to teach. 



THEACHING THE JUNIOR CLASS 127 

Lesson Outline: 

I. The Teacher's Preparation. 

1. Spiritual preparation. 

2. A prompt beginning in lesson study. 

3. The needs of the pupils. 

4. A lesson plan. 

II. Before the Lesson. 

III. Point of Contact. 

1. Its importance. 

2. Examples of its use. 

IV. Lesson Presentation. 

1. As to method. 

2. One central truth. 

3. General suggestions. 
V. Illustrations. 

VI. Generalization. 
VII. Application. 

Topics for Special Study: 

1. Methods of Presentation. 

2. The Principle of Induction. 

Topics for Class Discussion: 

1. How may a teacher prepare himself spiritually for 

his task ? 

2. What are the advantages of an early beginning of 

lesson study? 

3. What attention should be given to the pupil's needs ? 

4. What is meant by lesson plan? 

5. What has the teacher to do before the session begins ? 

6. What is point of contact? What about its impor- 

tance ? 

7. Discuss methods of presentation. 

8. Why should one central truth be selected? 

9. By whom is the generalization to be stated, and why ? 
10. State the importance of application. 

9 * 



CHAPTER XIII 
SOME POINTS OF SPECIAL EMPHASIS 

The art of teaching consists very largely of some lesser 
arts, such as that of story-telling, of questioning, of illustrat- 
ing, and of aiding the pupil's memory. The teacher who has 
learned how to skillfully draw out the truth from the scholar 
himself, to acquaint the mind with truth by throwing light 
upon it from other knowledge familiarly possessed by the 
pupil, and to aid the mind in retaining the facts and truths 
presented to it from time to time, has advanced far toward 
the goal of successful teaching. 

I. The Story 

i. The story as a method of teaching. "The child's 
thirst for stories, — has it no significance, and does it not lay 
a responsibility upon us?" asks a prominent educator. The 
question carries within itself its own answer. The 
interest the yer y f act ^^ the story is of such surpassing in- 
Obiigation terest to the child obligates us to make use of 
it as an educational method. This obligation is 
freely admitted to-day. We now recognize in story-telling, 
says Professor St. John, "the earliest, the simplest, and so far 
as moral influence is concerned, the most universally effective 
means of impressing upon a new generation the lessons that 
have been learned by those who have gone before." "Let 
me write the stories," exclaims G. Stanley Hall, "and I care 
not who writes the text-books." 

2. Hints on story-telling. Story-telling, as has already 
been suggested, is an art in itself, and the teacher can well 

128 4 



SOME POINTS OF SPECIAL EMPHASIS 129 

afford to make a special study of it. 1 We can give here only 
a few brief hints for general guidance. 

(a) The purpose of the story. Why is this particular 
story to be told? What do you desire to teach by it? Does 
the story clearly teach this? These are questions which must 
be definitely answered in the teacher's own mind before he 
undertakes to use the story in his teaching. 

(b) Appreciation of the story. It is not enough to know 
the story's meaning. It must be felt. The truth must first 
have entered into the teacher's mind and heart; only then 
is he prepared to make the story an effective vehicle for its 
conveyance to the pupil. 

(c) Knowing the story. The story's make-up must be 
thoroughly familiar. This does not mean that it should be 
memorized. Memorization surely detracts from spontaneity. 
Rather we mean a familiar grasp of all its details, so that no 
least particular, important to it, shall be omitted in the telling. 

(d) Analysis. See how it is made up. Break it up into 
its component parts. Know not only what happened, but 
realize the successive steps in the narrative of what happened. 
Determine on the climax of the story, and make that the 
climax of your telling. 

(e) When you tell it: Be yourself. Speak naturally. 
Avoid affectation. "A cant voice is abominable." If you 
pose you attract attention to yourself rather than to the story. 
Be direct. Use direct quotation. Strip off all unnecessary 
verbiage. Do not interject comments or explanations of your 
own. Come to the point. Be earnest. This does not neces- 
sarily mean, Wear a sober face. It means, Give yourself to 
the story. Live it. Forget your own existence. Make your 
pupils feel it. To do this, it will help you to visualize the 
whole. Make yourself see it, then show what you see to 
your pupils. 

1 Literature on the subject may be secured in abundance. First we 
would advise the teacher to obtain "Stories and Story-Telling," St. John, 
(New York, Eaton & Mains; Cincinnati, Jennings & Graham. Price, §o 
cents.) This may be followed by the purchase of other books therein 
suggested. 4 



130 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

(f) Practice. There is only one way to learn how to tell 
stories, and that is, to practice. ( You never need want for an 
audience. Wherever two or three children are gathered to- 
gether, there you have it. "If one have neither natural adapta- 
tion, nor experience, still I say, Tell the stories; tell the sto- 
ries ; a thousand times, tell the stories ! You have no cold, un- 
sympathetic audience to deal with ; the child is helpful, re- 
ceptive, warm, eager, friendly. His whole-hearted interest, 
his surprise, admiration, and wise comment will spur you on." 
(Smith.) 

II. Artful Questioning 

i. The importance of questions. The masters of peda- 
gogy without exception give questioning a place of importance 
in all teaching. Some make it pre-eminent. Gregory, for 
example, says : "The true stimulant of the mind is a question, 
and the object or event that does not raise any 
se y the q Ues tion will stir no thought. Questioning is not, 
Teachers therefore, merely one of the modes of teaching : it 
is the whole of teaching; it is the excitation of 
the self-activities to their work of discovering truth, learning 
facts, knowing the unknown." Certain it is that the greatest 
teachers have made much use of questions in their own teach- 
ing. We have already instanced Socrates. Jesus Christ, the 
Master Teacher, was the most wonderful questioner who ever 
taught. In the simplicity, the depth, the searching quality, 
and the far-reaching effects of His questions He stands pre- 
eminent through the ages. The one recorded incident of His 
boyhood portrays Him in the temple among the teachers of 
the law, "both hearing them and asking them questions." 
"With questions He encouraged the timid, instructed the do- 
cile, rebuked the stubborn and undiscerning, warned the im- 
periled, silenced the carping and captious, refuted the con- 
tentious, and denounced the hypocritical." 

The principles upon which the recognition of the value of 
questioning rests are among the most generally accepted of 



SOME POINTS OF SPECIAL EMPHASIS 131 

any in the new education. For example, Mill states as the 
first principle in education, "The discipline which does good 
to the mind is that in which the mind is active, not passive; 
the secret of developing the faculties is to give them much 
to do, and much inducement to do it." Spencer 
WhyQues- g that the ^ "g^id be told as little as 

tions are of . 1 . 1 , «• 1 

Value in possible and induced to discover as much as pos- 

Teaching sible." Agassiz said that "the worst service a 
teacher could render a pupil was to give him a 
ready-made answer." Dr. Lewis says : "The new education 
aims to draw out, to train, to discipline; and it does this by 
awakening curiosity, exciting inquiry, and developing discrimi- 
nation. Its axiom is that it is what the student does for 
himself by himself, under wise guidance, that educates him." 
These statements make clear why the question is so important 
a means in teaching. 

2. The use of questions. Questioning as commonly 
practiced is greatly abused. The use of printed questions 
read from a lesson help can not be too strongly condemned. 
It can not be anything but formal, stilted, dry, and lifeless. 

„„ ., _ Instead of awakening interest, such questioning 

The Abuse of , & . , • 7 

Questioning P uts to s * ee P whatever interest may have existed. 

Questions, to be of value, must have in them some 
element of surprise, at least that of their form of statement 
being unknown until they have been asked. The asking of 
questions, the answer to which is perfectly obvious to all, is 
likewise objectionable. Questions should compel thought. 
Too often this sort of questioning is intended to hide a lack 
of real information on the part of the teacher, which it never 
succeeds in doing, even in a class of Junior boys and girls. 
Among other faulty questions may be named the aimless 
question, that leads nowhere; the irrelevant question, which 
is out of joint with the .thing in mind; the misleading ques- 
tion, which leads the learner away from the right road; the 
wordy question, which confuses ; the technical question, which 
confounds; and the silly question, which insults. There are 

4 



i 3 2 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

also questions that are annoying, provoking, impudent, sar- 
castic, and malicious. 

Professor Pattee names three classes of questions : (a) the 
preliminary question, which is to be used in connection with 
Herbart's first step; (b) the developing or suggestive ques- 
tion, the design of which is to stir the mental activity of tha 
pupil and enable him to formulate his own statement; and 
(c) the test question, the object of which is simply to find 
out what the pupil has learned. We will consider these classes 
of questions somewhat more in detail. 

(a) The Preliminary Question. The object of this step 
has been stated to be that of finding a foundation in the pupil's 
mind upon which to build. With the lesson which is to be 

taught in mind, and keeping constantly before 

_, . ™" him the central truth which he desires to impress, 
Point of * 

Contact tne teacher will use questions to discover a pos- 

sible point of contact. Let him make sure of his 
ground. Dig beneath the surface. Because the Junior uses 
words glibly, do not take it for granted that he understands 
what they mean. Words which to the teacher have a certain 
perfectly clear meaning may have a very different content in 
the mind of the boy or girl. 

In presenting as an illustrative lesson the Parable of the 
Tares (Matt. 13:24-31), Professor McMurry begins as fol- 
lows : "Let us see what Christ meant by His story about re- 
moving weeds from the wheat. Have you found weeds in 
a garden of your own? How were they gotten rid of? Why 
is that so necessary? Is there any danger to the other plants 
in so doing? Have you seen weeds growing in grain in the 
country? Where? In what grains? Is it more or less 
dangerous to remove weeds from wheat than from your 
flowers or vegetables in your garden? Why? What, then, 
does the farmer do with them ?" x 

(b) The Developing Question. This class of questions is 
of use in the presentation of the lesson as a stimulant to 

1 "The Method of the Recitation," p. 283. 



SOME POINTS OF SPECIAL EMPHASIS 133 

thought, to lead the pupil to discover the truth for himself, 
and to state it in his own language. Socrates maintained that 
the teacher should never tell anything; everything should be 
elicited from the pupil. This is almost as extreme as the 

position of the teacher who simply stands before 

To Aid the his class and talks, telling everything, explaining 

upi in everything, and expecting only that his pupils 

the Truth w ^l s ^ patiently, with their hands and feet still, 

their mouths shut, and their ears wide open as 
funnels to drink in unresistingly everything which he chooses 
to pour forth. Of the two extremes the latter is the worse, 
but there is little excuse for either. No amount of the most 
skillful questioning will elicit from the pupil facts which he 
does not possess. "Given a knowledge on the part of the 
child of the meaning of washing, we can elicit from that child 
that a man who goes to his room with a dirty face and comes 
out with a clean one, has washed himself. But no amount 
of Socratic skill could elicit from a child who knew nothing 
about washing, how a dirty face became clean." It is im- 
portant that the teacher be able to discern which things may 
be elicited and which must be told. 

The developing question should be clear, direct, and sim- 
ple. As a rule, it should not be answerable merely by yes 
or no. In such a question the teacher himself makes a state-: 

ment of fact and requires the pupil only to con- 
Questioning fi rm or deny. Sometimes it is useful in leading 

up to a question of another form. Occasionally 
the question may be in elliptical form; that is, may supply a 
part of the answer, expecting the pupil to complete the sen- 
tence. Instead of asking, "Where was Jesus born?" the 

teacher says, "Jesus was born in ," and pauses for 

the pupil to complete the sentence. The chief use of this 
form of question is to encourage the diffident or timid child, 
or the pupil to whom expression is difficult. Care should be 
taken not to use it overmuch. Questions should be so framed 
as not to require long or involved answers, except in the 

• 



134 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

case of the exceptional child. As a usual thing, they would 

discourage the pupil from attempting an answer. 

Professor McMurry in the illustrative lesson quoted from 

above gives an excellent example of the developing question 

used in lesson presentation. We continue the quotation: 

* „ , "Now let us listen to the story which Christ told 

An Example , « > « , r™ 

of the Devel- about removing weeds from the wheat. That was 

oping Ques- in Palestine, and the particular weeds he men- 
tion in tioned are called tares. They are said to look 

e"nt S aHon PrCS " very much like wheat ( Rea <* the lesson, Matt. 
13:24-31.) The children, after hearing the par- 
able, relate the same probably two or three times, in order 
to see clearly the concrete situation. Proceeding, we say, 
Why, then, were the servants not allowed to pull up the tares ? 
The chief answer is that in so doing they would root up the 
wheat, because the tares stand so close to the wheat that one 
could not be pulled up without injury to the other. Christ's 
disciples hardly knew what He meant by this story, and they 
asked Him about it. Do you think you can possibly tell what 
is meant? Let us see. He says that a man having a field 
of grain may be compared with the Kingdom of heaven. If 
so, whom might the sower represent? Answer: Christ. And 
what would the field be? Answer: The world. Who would 
be meant by the good seed? Who by the tares? When will 
the harvest be? Who are the reapers? Are there many 
tares or wicked people in the world? Give examples, as 
thieves, murderers, etc. Those servants thought it would be 
wise to separate the tares from the wheat and gather them 
up; have you ever had the same feeling about the bad people 
in the world? Have you wanted to do away with the evil 
and leave only the good? Well, now, suppose you were al- 
lowed to separate the good from the bad; if this permission 
were given you, how would you go at it? (1) On which 
side, the good or bad, would you place Jacob? You remem- 
ber he deceived his aged father. (2) What would you do 
with Moses? Remember chat he killed a man. How did 



SOME POINTS OF SPECIAL EMPHASIS 135 

God regard him? ... (3) Where would you place the 
Prodigal Son? ... (4) What would you do with the 
brother of the Prodigal Son ? He stayed at home and worked. 
(5) What would you do with your friends and acquaintances? 
Why are you confused in these cases? Once more, why 
would not the householder allow his servants to pull up the 
tares? Answer: They were too near the wheat stalks and 
too much like them to be separated from them. Does that 
help you any here? How? Answer: (1) The evil is so near 
the good that they are both found in one person; (2) the 
good and the bad often appear so much alike that often we 
are not able to tell them apart. What conclusion, then, do 
you reach about our trying to separate the good from the bad ? 
But what if we went ahead and decided to attempt it never- 
theless? Wrong! Who, then, will attend finally to this sep- 
aration? Why are angels chosen for it rather than men? 
Which verse in the parable most clearly calls for delay in 
separating the bad from the good? Look them through, to 
see. Verse 30. 'Let both grow together until the harvest/ 
Are you convinced that this applies as much to good arid 
bad people as to wheat and tares? Do you call to mind an- 
other verse that brings to mind a similar thought? You have 
heard it often. It begins with the word Judge. Matt. 7 : 1. 
Judge not. Let us learn these two verses, then; and here- 
after, when the parable of the tares is called for, you may 
state its chief thought for us by these two verses." 

(c) The Test Question. This finds its chief value in the 
review. At the beginning of the lesson a few questions may 
be asked, to bring out the salient points of the lesson of the 
To Review week preceding, or to bring to mind the central 
truth of the month's or of the quarter's teaching. 
Questions printed in the lesson helps are, as a rule, almost 
wholly of this class. They may be used occasionally to test 
the pupil's preparation or his memory of work previously 
given, but it is easy to make too much use of them. 



i 3 6 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

III. Illustrations in Teaching 

x. Kinds of illustrations. Illustration may be cither 
verbal or material. 

(a) Verbal Illustrations. Under this head comes every- 
thing in the way of examples, parallel instances, comparisons 
and contrasts, incidents and anecdotes. In order that the 
teacher may be apt in illustration, it is needful that he under- 
stand and know how to use certain of the most useful rhetor- 
ical forms. Most important of these are: 

(i) The Simile. The simile, consisting of an expressed 
comparison, is the simplest kind of illustration. It is ex- 
ceedingly helpful to the teacher. Whenever he is able t6 use 
an apt simile he may be sure that he is teaching 
FormcT^* effectivel y- Some ^miliar examples are: "The 
Illustration ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which 
the wind driveth away." "For the word of God 
is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged 
sword." "But the path of the just is as the shining light, that 
shineth more and more unto the perfect day." "I will be as 
the dew unto Israel." When the comparison is elaborated it 
becomes a parable. 

(2) The Metaphor. The metaphor, like the simile, is 
based upon comparison, but differs in that, while the simile 
uses a distinct symbol, usually the word like or as, to indi- 
cate that there is comparison of ideas, the meta- 

The Most phor omits any such, and, assuming a likeness, 
Forcible ,. . , , 7 . « . 

Form of applies to one of them the term which denotes 

Illustration the other. It thus leaves more to the hearer to 
discover and acts more directly as a mental stim- 
ulant. As a stronger figure, it is more forcible than the simile. 
It is accounted the most effective form of illustration. The 
average person delights in hearing metaphorical speech. Ex- 
amples are: "Judah is a lion's whelp." "Israel is an empty 
vine." "Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye 
escape the damnation of hell?" The metaphor expanded be- 
comes an allegory. 



SOME POINTS OF SPECIAL EMPHASIS 137 

(3) The Anecdote. Brief incidents in story form may 
be very effectively used by the teacher if care and discrimina- 
tion are employed in their selection. Not uncommonly an 
anecdote may do more by way of turning away 

The Use of thought from the subject in hand than by way 
Illustrative . .„ , , t r* 1 « « 

incidents °* illuminating the truth. In Sunday-school 

teaching illustrative incidents should be brief, 

pointed, true to life, and have an evident application to the 

immediate truth which it is desired to convey. 

(bj Material Illustrations. Under material illustration 

comes everything in the way of object teaching by the use of 

pictures, maps, diagrams, models, statuary, coins, and the 

blackboard. Any object which will translate an abstract idea 

into concrete form or give reality to a thought which it is 

desired to impress is valuable as an aid to teaching. The 

stereoscope is now being effectively employed by many in 

teaching the geography of Palestine. 1 

(1) Pictures for Illustrative Use. Where a stereoscope 
and set of views can not be secured, the teacher may use as 
a substitute pictures in books or clipped from circulars and 
travel announcements. Pictures may well be put to a wider 
use than that of teaching the geography of the Holy Land. 
If the matter is kept in mind and the teacher is alert for 
picture material, phases of almost every lesson may be illus- 
trated in this way. The Perry pictures and other similar 
series will be found useful for this purpose. Postcards made 
from actual photographs may now be had, as also the" photo- 
graphs themselves where the teacher can afford a somewhat 
larger investment. 

(2) The Blackboard. A blackboard should always be 
within reach of the Junior teacher. Writing an important 
word, setting down a brief generalization, outlining the form 
of some object by a ready sketch, is often of immense help. 
In teaching the geography of Biblical lands the blackboard 

1 Write Underwood and Underwood, Department O, 5 West Nine- 
teenth St., New York, for information concerning The Underwood Travel 
System, 



i 3 8 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

is indispensable. The map should be made offhand as the 
teacher talks. If the teacher himself has the main facts well 

in mind, this may readily be done with sufficient 

fth est accuracy. If the teacher feels that he can not pos- 

Biackboard sibly do this, a faint outline by means of dots 

may be placed on the board beforehand. The 
blackboard is also of use in jotting down the successive points 
of a lesson summary or of a review. 

In the writer's early Sunday-school experience the village 
artist was employed to come to the church during the week 
and place upon the blackboard an elaborate symbolic repre- 
sentation of some feature of the next Sunday's lesson. The 
board was placed on the platform in full view of the entire 
school for their admiration. The sketch was almost never 
explained or referred to in any way. About the only im- 
pression made upon one youthful mind was of the artist's 
ability to make wonderful pictures. Such sketches made dur- 
ing the week, even if brought to the attention of the class 
and carefully explained, accomplish little. The process is too 
mechanical. But little worth attaches also to ingenious de- 
vices, combinations of letters, rebuses, and puzzles. They 
may amuse or entertain, but they have little teaching value. 
"He is the best teacher," says the Eastern proverb, "who 
turns our ears into eyes." The vital way of using the black- 
board is while presenting the lesson to the ear, to make it 
clear to the eye also; not by elaborate drawings, but "by a 
simple and direct appeal to the things the pupil knows best." 
Talk with chalk in hand, and use simple illustrations as you 
proceed. Books on blackboard work, readily obtainable, 1 give 
instruction in the elementary principles of drawing in a man- 
ner at once so simple and so definite that with a determina- 
tion to do it any one can become sufficiently proficient to use 
the blackboard acceptably and profitably in teaching. 

Where the Junior class does not have a room to itself, the 
large standing blackboard should give way to a small lap 

1 Such, for example, as "The Blackboard Class," Darnell. 



SOME POINTS OF SPECIAL EMPHASIS 139 

blackboard or a writing-pad of unruled paper. Where this 
is used, it is well for the class to have the same. When the 
teacher makes a sketch or writes down an important general- 
ization, the pupils should do the same on their pads. 

2. Uses of illustrations. The uses of illustration may 
now be briefly stated. 

(a) To catch and hold the attention. By means of an 
illustration which appeals to some common interest the at- 
tention may be immediately arrested. 

(b) To quicken the imagination. The service of the imag- 
ination must often be invoked as an aid to learning, and it 
can best be awakened by illustration. 

(c) To kindle the emotions. The emotions are of highest 

importance as an aid to moral and religious ap- 
offi Spe f clfic peal. The conscience may, with many, be more 
Illustrations readily aroused through the emotions than other- 
wise, and the emotions, in turn, may be more 
readily kindled through illustrations than in any other way. 

(d) To aid reasoning. An argument may only be made to 
take hold of the understanding by means of some familiar 
illustration. 

(e) To assist memory. Illustrations are easily retained 
and serve as a means to recall that truth with which they 
are associated. 

IV. Enlisting the Aid of Memory 

Memory is that power of the mind by which it is enabled 
to retain and reproduce ideas which have been presented 
to it. It is obvious that without memory both* teaching and 
mental growth are impossible. How, then, may memory be 
stimulated and its aid be best evoked in Sunday-school teach- 
ing? 

1. What memory depends upon. The retention and 
reproduction of ideas depend almost wholly upon two things : 
the strength and depth of the impression, and association with 
other ideas already in the mind. If everything which we wish 

4 



i 4 o THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

our pupils to remember be taught in such a way that a strong 
impression and natural association are made, we may be sure 
of success. 

What grown person who does not have a stock of vivid 
memories going back to childhood! Some are of first expe- 
riences : the boy's first boots, his first pair of trousers, ac- 
quaintanceship with his first intimate girl friend. Others are 
of strange and unusual experiences: of being 
e Secret thrown from a horse, of visiting some historical 
bering scene, of witnessing an accident. These remind 

one of facts and persons and experiences closely 
associated with them. Some things are indelibly impressed 
upon our memories because of repetition: the fields we crossed 
on our way to school, or the streets traversed in going to the 
postoffice for the mail. These memories of childhood suggest 
how the teacher of Juniors, ere the golden memory period 
has passed, may indelibly impress upon their minds facts and 
truths that will remain with them throughout life. 

2. Strengthening the impression. There are various 
ways in which the impression may be made powerful. 

(a) By Securing Close Attention. The first and chief 
reason why pupils do not remember is that they do not give 
attention to what is being presented to them. The teacher's 
task is, therefore, to win their close and earnest attention to 
the lesson presentation. 

(b) By the Use of Change and Variety. Every teacher 
has at some time been surprised to find how well the class 
has remembered a lesson presented in her absence by a sub- 
stitute teacher. A little investigation would probably have 
disclosed the fact that the substitute employed an entirely 
different method of presentation. Study to find new ways of 
presenting the lesson. 

(c) By the Use of Narrative. How many times the Jun- 
iors will say concerning something which they have been 
asked to memorize, "O, Miss H., if you will just tell us about 
it we will remember; but it doesn't mean anything when 

4 



SOME POINTS OF SPECIAL EMPHASIS 141 

we read it out of the book." Cultivate the ability to present 
the simplest facts and truths in story form. 

(d) By Association. This both strengthens the impression 
and is in itself a means of retaining and reproducing ideas. 
If the facts are geographical, associate them with the hills, 
valleys, streams, or mountains of the pupil's neighborhood. 
How many have remembered the size and shape of Palestine 
by associating it with the State of New Hampshire, which it 
resembles in these particulars. If the facts are historical, 
associate them with events in United States history, which 
the pupil is no doubt studying in school. If spiritual, asso- 
ciate them with the experiences of the playground or the 
family circle. 

(e) By Repetition. Drill is important. Review the mem- 
ory work over and over again. Sometimes at the beginning 
of the lesson period, sometimes at the close. Surprise the 
pupils by calling for it in the middle of a recitation. Some 
things can only be learned by rote. In this class come memory 
passages from the Bible, golden texts, and the great hymns. 
It is of the utmost importance that the Juniors store their 
minds with this wealth. That is possible now which never 
will be again. What is more, it stands in very close relation 
to their future well-being. 

Lesson Outline: 
I. The Story. 

1. The story as a method of teaching. 

2. Hints on story-telling. 
II. Artful Questioning. 

1. The importance of questions. 

2. The use of questions. 
III. Illustrations in Teaching. 

1. Kinds of illustrations. 

2. Uses of illustrations. 

IV. Enlisting the Aid of Memory. 

1. What memory depends upon. 

2. Strengthening the impression. 



142 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

Topics for Special Study: 

1. The art of story-telling. 

2. Jesus* use of questions in His teaching. 

Topics for Class Discussion: 

i. Why is story-telling an important method of teach- 
ing? 

2. Give the most important suggestions on how to tell 

a story. 

3. Discuss the place of questioning in teaching. 

4. What is the use of the preliminary question? 

5. What is the importance of the developing question? 

6. Name and give an example of the most important 

forms of rhetorical illustrations. 

7. How may the blackboard be best used? 

8. Give the principal uses of illustrations. 

9. What does memory chiefly depend upon? 

10. State different ways in which a strong impression 
may be made. 



I 

CHAPTER XIV 
THE PROGRAM 

A program is a setting forth in order of the plan of the 

day's session. To attempt to conduct a Junior Department 

without a program is like trying to cut out a dress without a 

. m pattern. A program is necessary that the Super- 
Necessity for : , , , « ,tt. , < - . 
a Program mtendent may have freedom. With a definite 

program written out, he may give his full atten- 
tion to the thing in hand, and need not be obliged to think of 
what is to come next. It insures a logical sequence through- 
out the session. Further, it is a decided aid in securing order 
and in preserving reverent attention and order. 

I. The Program Outlined 

The elements of the session should be : 

1. Worship — in song, prayer, responsive service, and of- 
fering. 

2. Recognition of birthdays and of new members. 

3. Instruction — given by the Junior Superintendent, as 
memory drills and general instruction from the platform, 
and by the teacher in the regular class work. 

4. The care of details — such as marking records, mak- 
ing announcements, and distributing books and papers. Much 
of this work can be done before and after the regular session. 

II. The Progam in Detail 

1. Worship. 

(a) In Praise. The songs of the Junior Department 
should be a fundamental part of the service. These must 
not be left to chance, but selected with a definite pur- 

10 143 4 



144 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

pose to teach the truth of the lesson. If none can be found 
to teach the definite truth, select those that embody one of 
the great truths that meet the spiritual needs of the Juniors. 
One or two songs of praise in the opening will create a help- 
ful atmosphere for the session, and the lesson hymn or hymns 
may come later in the service. Occasionally, to vary the 
service, the Juniors should be allowed to select one of the 
hymns. They can be trusted as a rule to select one of the 
best in the book. 

(b) In Prayer. While the entire service is one of wor- 
ship, there must be in every session a definite time for com- 
ing into the presence of God in prayer. This should be as 
near the lesson period as possible. In order that the room 
may be pervaded by an atmosphere of reverence and worship 
the door should be closed, and no one allowed to enter dur- 
ing this part of the service; the officers should cease work 
and join in the service, and every teacher bow or kneel, as 
is the custom. 

The prayer should not be over long; it should be filled 
with thankfulness for definite things, and with such peti- 
tions as are easily a part of the heart life of every Junior. 
The impress of the prayer is much strengthened if followed, 
while still in the attitude of prayer, by one of the great hymns 
of adoration, as "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty." 
The great purpose of prayer in the Junior Department is 
that the boys and girls may feel the spirit of true prayer, and 
not think of it simply as words. 

(c) In Scripture Response. The reading and recitation 
of Scripture may be made a very impressive and helpful part 
of the service. The Psalms and verses which the Juniors are 
memorizing can be used frequently. Many cf these passages 
give beautiful expression for the feelings which are common 
to all hearts. 

(d) In Offering. In the Primary Department the offering 
has been made a service of love and recognition of God's 
greatest gifts to us. In the Junior Department the idea of 



THE PROGRAM 145 

stewardship and of giving as an obligation as well as pleas- 
ure should be taught and the habit of systematic giving 
formed. The method of taking the offering must be adapted 
to boys and girls. No longer is it a pleasure to them to 
march round and put their offerings in a basket, while to 
ask them to sing "Hear the Pennies Dropping," or a similar 
song, is an open insult to their ten years. The offering may 
be taken in the class and handed by the class treasurer — 
elected monthly — to the Department treasurer, or the baskets 
may be passed by ushers as in the regular church service, 
the offering being received by the Superintendent, who may 
offer a short prayer. 

In all services in the Junior Department the forms should 
be patterned after those of the higher departments rather 
than of the Primary Department. 

2. Recognition. 

(a) Of Birthdays. The recognition services of the Junior 
Department should show marked departure from the same 
service in the Primary Department. The Juniors may enjoy 
counting the pennies as they are dropped into the birthday 
bank, and if so, well and good. If, however, they feel that 
this is babyish, it should be dropped at once. The money 
may then be put into the bank and the amount announced. 
The birthday greeting will also change form. A different 
greeting or birthday wish may be used for each month in 
the year. These greetings may be selected from some of the 
hymns or from other greetings, or the Hebrew benediction 
from Numbers 6 : 24-26 may appropriately be used. If a birth- 
day calendar is used the Juniors should write their own 
names opposite their birthdays. 

(b) Of New Members and Visitors. The welcome song 
of the Primary Department will be rated with the offering 
song and others as too childish for the Juniors. The public 
reception of new members and their introduction to the school 
will lend a dignity to membership in this department which 
will be helpful to both old and new members, as well as 

1 



146 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

afford a means of extending a welcome in the name of the 
class or department to new members. A new member should 
never be assigned to a class without a formal introduction 
to the teacher, and by the teacher to the members of the class. 
Visitors, where it seems best, may be introduced to the De- 
partment and recognized by the class rising; in other cases 
they may simply be welcomed by the assistant superintendent 
when they enter, and by the Superintendent later. 

3. Instruction. Just how much of the instruction shall 
be given by the Superintendent and how much by the class 
teachers depends upon the organization and equipment of 
the department. 

Before the advent of the graded lessons many Junior Su- 
perintendents taught the lesson to the entire department. 
With the new plans, class teachers are necessary. But the 
Junior Superintendent has the opportunity of teaching special 
lessons, drilling on memory work, and giving reviews. The 
value of the review is well recognized. Its purpose is three- 
fold. It reveals to the teacher or Superintendent, sometimes 
to an amazing degree, just how much has really been taught ; 
it gives to the pupil the opportunity for putting what he has 
learned into words and serves thereby to more firmly fix 
the lesson in his mind. The general view of the lesson in 
departments where the classes are studying different lessons 
is impossible, but in such cases the review may cover some 
of the correlated work, or some general Bible work that must 
be done in every Junior Department. If the Uniform Les- 
sons and supplemental work are used, the review will vary, 
sometimes covering the lesson and at other times the sup- 
plemental work. 

Whatever the arrangement of the department or of the 
room, there should be a time for the assembling of the in- 
dividual classes, and whether this be a time of disorder or 
merely of a slight disorderly confusion will depend far more 
on the teachers than on the Superintendent. Of the work of 
the period of instruction more need not be said here. It is 

i 



THE PROGRAM 147 

the teacher's golden opportunity, the time to prove whether 
he is a teacher merely in name or whether the living truth 
is verily passing through his heart into the heart of his pupil. 

4. The care of details. 

(a) Marking Records. Great care should be taken in 
keeping the records, and credit should be given for the work 
done, as well as for attendance and offering. A specified 
time should be given for marking the class books and taking 
the class offering, also for the collection by the treasurer 
of the offering envelopes, in order that there may be no in- 
terruption of the lesson period by any of these necessary 
visits of the officers to the class. 

(b) Announcements. A Church bulletin is a good thing, 
of which we heartily approve, but the Sunday-school must 
not be made the bulletin board. Only such announcements 
as are of vital interest to the school should be given place 
on the school program. The secretary's report should be of 
interest to every pupil. As this must come early in the ses- 
sion, it is frequently wise to have the report consist of the 
number present, amount of the offering, and other items of 
the w r eek previous. Juniors are interested in comparisons, 
and a comparison of the reports with the corresponding Sun- 
day of "last year" is a stimulus to increased effort. 

(c) Distribution of Library Books and Papers should be 
made as the pupils leave the room, that their attention may 
not be distracted during the session of the school. 

III. General Suggestions 

1. Before the session. Much of the success or failure 
of the Sunday-school hour will depend upon what is done 
during the fifteen or twenty minutes that precede the session. 
As the pupils are assembling it is very important 
opportunity tnat ^he teachers and officers should be in their 
places. These few minutes give a great opportu- 
nity for getting acquainted with the girls and boys. There 
is also a chance to direct the activities, so that there will be 

4 



148 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

no disorder, but rather a busy, happy preparation for the work 
of the ensuing hour. 

2. Beginning on time. A first essential is beginning on 
time. The Superintendent who waits for his school to be 
there in order that he may tell them how much time has been 
lost, or to urge them to be prompt, will never have a punctual 
school. The Superintendent who must stop after the moment 
for opening to look up the number of the opening hymn, is 
inviting tardiness. Begin on the tick of the clock if there 
is no one present but the Superintendent. 

How begin? By ringing a bell? No; the very tone of 
the average bell does not tend to reverence; then, too, a bell 
has a dictatorial note that arouses opposition in the boy or 
- , e girl who got up crosswise. Quiet music of the 

Method of , . , , ,. 

Opening highest type creates an atmosphere of reverence 
that is irresistible to most Juniors. But this pre- 
supposes an artist at the piano or organ, and this is not al- 
ways possible; the chord on the instrument can, however, 
always be used. The command, "J u rri° r s, Attention!" if 
given with military emphasis, is enjoyed by boys and girls, 
and wins quick response. In a school where the teachers as 
well as the pupils have acquired the habit of promptness, the 
Superintendent may simply step to the platform and, after 
waiting a moment or two for perfect quiet, lead in the repe- 
tition of some passage of Scripture. 

3. Character of program. A love of variety and an in- 
ability to long keep the attention fixed on one thing is char- 
acteristic of the Junior age, nevertheless a certain uniformity 

in a Junior program is advisable. This should 
with°vTriety be m tne general outline or form, in order that 

the school may be familiar with this outline and 
ready to respond; otherwise there is more or less confusion, 
and in the case of responses or general exercises a failure to 
respond till the exercise, whatever it may be, is half over. 
This tends to a lack of co-operation in these services. On 
the other hand, the individual features, as the hymns and re- 



THE PROGRAM 149 

sponses, should be changed from time to time, that there may 
be something new each week, while occasionally an entire 
change may be introduced as a surprise to the school. This 
presupposes that a written copy of the general program is 
in the hands of the pianist and the weekly changes are indi- 
cated to her; also that, in the case of the surprise program, 
copies of this are in the hands of the pianist and enough of 
the officers or teachers to enable the program to move 
smoothly. 

The nature of the program must depend in a large meas- 
ure upon the general plan of work for the school. If the 
Uniform Lessons are being taught and the supplemental work 
learned during the school period the general program must 
be brief. If the Graded Lessons are used, with the correlated 
work done at home, more time can be given to a general 
service and more features be introduced. The time for hand- 
work, whether in the school or at home, will also affect the 
nature of the program. 

4. Discipline. In the conduct of a Sunday-school or a 
department there are many things apparently so trifling in 
themselves as to be hardly recognized, and yet each in its 
way of great importance. One Superintendent said: "My 
greatest difficulty is with my teachers. They will continue 
talking with their pupils when I give the signal for quiet." 
Each teacher has just one thing more to say to the class or 
to one pupil, and does not realize either that it takes only 
one to make disorder, or that every other teacher has the one 
thing more to say. Frequently schools or departments are 
made disorderly by the late comers, and the Superintendent 
and teachers should do everything in their power to help the 
pupils to form the habit of punctuality. One effective way 
of checking tardiness is to have certain intervals during the 
opening service at which late comers may enter. 

The co-operation of pupils in a general service is largely 
dependent upon the teacher. If the Superintendent requests 
the school to kneel, and the teacher remains seated and bows 



150 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

her head, the class soon follows her lead. If the request is 
for bowed heads and the teacher sits upright, the pupils either 
sit upright or peep at her between their fingers. If disorder 
^u ^ t. , occurs in the class during the prayer, and the 

The Teacher's «'•',.« 

Example teacher opens her eyes and in whispered tones 

admonishes the disturber, she suggests the idea 

of looking round and whispering. Unless the disorder is such 

as to cause real disturbance, the admonition should come at 

the close of the prayer. 

In regard to all matters of order there should be a per- 
fect understanding between the Superintendent and teachers, 
so that each may assume his share of responsibility. A well- 
arranged program and carefully-prepared lesson will be of 
little avail if disorder is allowed to reign. 

5. The close of the session. The purpose of every 
earnest teacher is to impart to the pupil some great truth that 
shall be for the upbuilding of his Christian character. If this 
is to be accomplished the impression of the lesson must re- 
main. Yet an impression on the heart of a boy or girl is 
very easily effaced. The closing service of the school should 
be of such a nature as not to mar the image made by the 
teacher and the lesson. This at once precludes the general 
review of the lesson, because each teacher has prepared the 
lesson for his class and there may have been as many differ- 
ent truths taught as there are classes. The rearranging of 
the chairs for a general service not only uses valuable time, 
but is also distracting. Dismissal from the classes is a method 
that is gaining favor. A warning signal should be given five 
minutes before the time for closing. At the closing signal 
all may stand in their classes, repeat a closing prayer-verse, 
as "Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my 
heart be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my Strength, and 
my Redeemer/' or some other selected verse, sing the dox- 
ology, or one verse of a devotional hymn, and be dismissed. 

Our public schools are wise in their method of dismissal, 
and the Junior Department can not do better than follow their 



THE PROGRAM 151 

example and dismiss in a dignified march. A general plan 
of march, each class passing round its own chairs and join- 
ing the line at a certain point, can be arranged and be both 
attractive and orderly, in no way dispelling the spirit of the 
service. 

Lesson Outline: 

I. The Program Outlined. 
II. The Program in Detail. 

1. Worship. 

a. In Praise. 

b. In Prayer. 

c. In Scripture Response. 

d. In Offering. 

2. Recognition. 

a. Of Birthdays. 

b. Of New Members and Visitors. 

3. Instruction. 

4. The Care of Details. 

III. General Suggestions. 

1. Before the Session. 

2. Beginning on Time. 

3. Character of the Program. 

4. Discipline. 

5. The Close of the Session. 

Topics for Special Study: 

1. The programs of some successful Junior Depart- 

ments. 

2. The problem of discipline. 

Topics for Class Discussion: 

1. Why is a department program essential? 

2. Name the elements of worship in the program. 

3. How should the hymns be selected? 



152 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

4. What is to be said of the prayer? 

5. Give important particulars concerning the recogni- 

tion of birthdays, and of new members and vis- 
itors. 

6. What is to be the part of the Department Superin- 

tendent and of the teachers in instruction? 

7. What is the importance of details? 

8. Enumerate and discuss the various general sugges- 

tions given. 



! 



CHAPTER XV. 
HANDWORK FOR JUNIORS 

The best educators of the present day are putting re- 
newed emphasis upon the value of manual work. Our pub- 
lic schools are being equipped with workshops and labora- 
tories, and pupils are being trained by the use of the hand 
as well as the mind. Many experiments are proving that this 
method of teaching is applicable to Sunday-school instruction, 
so it behooves Sunday-school teachers to investigate in order 
to know something of the principles and methods of work. 

I. The Value of Handwork 

i. Assists memory. A child, utterly unable otherwise to 
give any intelligent idea of a lesson story, will, if the lesson 
has been impressed by a blackboard picture, reproduce in his 
own way the picture, and in "telling the picture," give a clear 
story. The recalling of the picture in putting it on paper 
has enabled the mind to more fully grasp the story, while the 
telling of the story will suggest additions to the picture. 
While the Junior period is called "the memory period," yet 
such a multiplicity of things are demanding the attention of 
these busy minds that it is necessary to fix important facts 
as firmly as possible. The things which the Juniors do are 
remembered much longer than the things which they hear. 
Hence the stories which they write and illustrate, the maps 
which they make, and the models which they contrive will help 
them to remember the Bible stories and facts, and give to them 
a sense of reality which can not be gained in any other way. 

2. Impresses truth. A chief end of teaching is to enable 

153 4 



154 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

a child to reproduce in his life the great life truths. A first 
step toward that end is to bring him to see and interpret com- 
mon facts which are the media of expressing truth. Manual 
work may not always directly set forth the spiritual truth it- 
self, but through the facts represented the underlying truth 
may often be comprehended and impressed. For instance, the 
child who draws the picture of the sheepfold with a mark to 
represent the shepherd does not express in that picture the 
truth of God's care for His children, but as she interprets the 
picture and sees in it the shepherd caring for his sheep, she 
may be brought to realize the care of the Heavenly Father for 
her, and may even put it into words. 

Not only is the truth impressed, it is learned in that way 
which has the largest influence upon character. "To learn 
a thing in life and through doing is much more developing, 
cultivating, and strengthening than to learn it merely through 
verbal communication of ideas." (Froebel) 

Manual work, the whole object of which is busy work, 
fails utterly in its purpose, for unless it has a vital connection 
with the truth to be taught, and in some tangible way is an 
expression or reproduction of the lesson, it becomes merely 
a mechanical exercise of the fingers. 1 

3. Provides for self-expression. One of the problems 
of teaching is how to afford opportunity for the pupil to give 
expression to his inner life. Oral expression alone is very 
incomplete, and if there is a large class one or two pupils are 
apt to do all the talking, while the others are idle or think- 
ing of things quite foreign to the lesson. Handwork gives 



1 "Manual methods must not be confused with the plans of class exer- 
cises and entertainments which have the sole purpose of amusing the pu- 
pils or restraining them from misconduct; they must not be adopted by 
the school and the teacher simply because they have the effect of 'keep- 
ing the children still.' The motive for their adoption must be their value 
in fulfilling the educational purposes of the school, the religious education 
of the pupils; that is, their real spiritual value; and the only reason for 
considering these methods here is that, though they are comparatively 
new to the Sunday-school, they are of first-rate importance and value to 
its work." — Cope, "The Modern Sunday School in Principle and Prac- 
tice," p. 113. 



HANDWORK FOR JUNIORS 155 

each one something to do, and thus insures self-expression by 
all. Of course it is understood that the highest form of the 
expression of moral and spiritual truth is in the daily life, 
but handwork provides a valuable secondary means. 

The common experience is that it interests the boys and 
girls, and provides a means of holding them to the Sunday- 
school. 1 Some Sunday-school teachers have expressed a 
fear that handwork might take away from the spiritual side 
of the teaching. Rightly used there is no danger of this, and 
if the facts of the lesson are well understood the spiritual 
application will come with greater force. 

The reasons for the adoption of handwork by the Sunday- 
school are admirably stated by Cope in a brief summary para- 
graph, as follows : "It is the natural way of education through 
self-activity; it involves self-expression, upon which the value 
of all impression depends ; it enlists a large proportion of the 
child's whole life; it follows the laws of his developing na- 
ture, his desire to do, to create ; it accords with the play spirit, 
which is really only the creation spirit ; it secures co-operation 
through the whole class, teaching pupils to work with others, 
developing the social spirit; it never fails to secure interest, 
the basis of attention; it removes religion from the realm of 
the abstract and unreal to the practical, concrete, and close- 
at-hand; it co-ordinates the work of the Sunday-school with 
that of the day school, tending to make the pupil's education 
unitary." 

II. Adaptation to the Junior Department 

The marked desire to use the fingers, peculiar to the 
Junior age, gives an especial attractiveness to handwork in 
the Junior Department. The Junior interest in constructive 



1 "Beyond doubt this manual system will go far toward solving the 
vexed problem of 'holding the boys and girls.' I do not say it will 
prove an absolute panacea, for no one thing will. But that it will work 
wonders when properly applied I see no reason to doubt. Let a boy or 
girl find joy in a task, and there need be no fear of its holding power." 
— Patterson Du Bois. 

4 



156 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

play suggests a special value in manual work as a part ef 
the curriculum for this age. The indisputable fact that the 
object of supreme interest to a Junior is the thing he is 
doing, together with the principle that he is most successfully 
instructed along the line of his interests, indicates that manual 
work presents a wide field of opportunity to the Junior De- 
partment. 

The stereotyped or definitely indicated manual work has 
its place here, but only as foundation work. Interest soon 
flags in anything that is all prepared and in which the Junior 
is asked only to do the purely mechanical part, and yet this 
work is essential to the more individual work later. A Junior 
is nothing if not original. The work that most deeply en- 
grosses him is that of his own planning. This gives to the 
manual work which is merely suggestive and which allows 
wide scope for originality, the greatest value, although even 
this causes stagnation of interest unless it is frequently varied 
and the Junior occasionally given an opportunity to introduce 
an idea that is entirely his own. 

III. Types of Handwork 

There are three principal kinds of manual work that are 
really applicable to the Sunday-school: illustrative, geograph- 
ical, and written work. These, however, yield themselves to 
more or less combination with each other. 

x. Illustrative. Illustrative work comes within the field 
of the Primary Department and consists in the illustration of 
Bible stories by drawings, paper cuttings, water-color paint- 
ings, or poster-making, which is one form of cutting. In the 
early Junior years the illustrative work in the use of Bible 
pictures, if these pictures really illustrate the lesson story, is 
interesting if made constructive by making the picture form 
part of the story in the note-book, which then becomes a Bible 
story book. 

Models, plans, or drawings of some things that are un- 
familiar to the youth of to-day, as models of Oriental houses, 



HANDWORK FOR JUNIORS Of 

the Oriental well or water-pitcher, can be introduced at time* 
in such a way as to be very informing and helpful* 

a. Geographical. Geographical work seems to be the nat- 
ural field for Junior activities, largely from its constructive 
character and from the Junior's predilection to literalness and 
exactness. Geography work gives life and reality to the Bible. 
If with the Juniors one can go to a sand pile or, better still, 
to a sand pit, and there on as large scale as possible, lay 
out a plan of the Holy Land, building up the mountains and 
digging out the river and sea basins ; then with them climbing 
the hills, walking along the backbone of the country, and de- 
scending to the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea, Palestine 
is no longer a few lines on a sheet of paper, but a real country 
of rivers, mountains, and valleys. If neither of these is ac- 
cessible, the best substitute is a sand table, where on a smaller 
scale the same map may be built. The material for this 
should be white beach or builders' sand. Sand containing 
clay should be avoided. 

"The best dimensions for a sand table are in the propor- 
tion of three to four, specifically 27 x 36 inches. Any tray so 
made that it will not warp or leak will answer. It can be 
set on horses or on a table. It need not be zinc-lined. It 
may be made of flooring, tongued and grooved, with a rim 
about five inches deep. The bottom should be painted blue 
to represent the sea when the sand is brushed away. This 
proportion will be exactly right for modeling the maps of the 
Old Testament world, Sinai and Egypt, Palestine, Esdraelon, 
and the environs of Jerusalem." x 

The map should be constructed not for the Juniors but 
with them, either during the regular Sunday-school "hour or 
at some other time, preferably when the time is not too lim- 
ited. Information as to distances, elevations, and so forth, 
can be secured from any good Bible atlas. 

This map will furnish the background of the Bible story 
and make clear many details. "The Bible story will become 

1 "Handwork in the Sunday-school," Littlefield. 



158 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

very real when the scholars mold the hills and plains which 
were the theater of events, and trace the roads along which 
caravans and armies, the Old Testament prophets, Jesus and 
His friends, journeyed. With the aid of stereographs the 
very places can be seen just as they appear to-day. 

The flagging of interest in the sand map may suggest an 
opportune time for the construction of the small relief map 
. .. ., . of papier-mache, the interest in which may be 

Individual . - - 1 . , . 1 * 

Relief Maps increased by coloring the maps with water-colors. 
The materials needed for this are map boards 
that will not warp, papier-mache or pulp, a sponge, and a box 
of water-colors. The sand map may be used as a model. 

The Junior is now ready for the flat maps. These may be 
entirely the work of the Junior, or may be prepared outline 
maps (which can be purchased for a small sum). 1 The rivers, 
Flat Maps lakes, and mountains should be marked in colors. 
Cities may be located and journeys traced. As 
a rule, it is best to confine the work to physical geography 
and leave the political divisions for the Intermediate Depart- 
ment. 

The map work must of necessity precede the lesson story 
if it is to be of greatest value, except in the case of the con- 
structive maps which grow with the story. 

3. Written work. The written work, which consists of 
elaborated stories, belongs more appropriately to the Inter- 
mediate Department, but even in the Junior years a little writ- 
ten work adds to the interest and value of the handwork. 
This will consist of the description of the models or plans 
drawn, facts about the picture used or the exact copying of 
a Bible memory verse or passage of Scripture. Later the 
letter to a friend describing the events of the lesson story, 
telling where they occurred, and perhaps enclosing a little 



1 Such as the Bailey Physical Maps of Palestine and Galilee; the 
Littlefield Old Testament Political Maps; Littlefield New Testament Se- 
ries. They may be secured from the Methodist Book Concern, New 
York, or the Western Methodist Book Concern, Cincinnati or Chicago. 

4 



HANDWORK FOR JUNIORS 159 

picture or drawing that suggests itself, will prove interesting 
and be of great value in fixing facts and impressing truths. 

"The Story of Joseph" may form the title of a book to 
be written and illustrated by the Juniors as a review of the les- 
sons about Joseph. This may be illustrated by any pictures or 
drawings that the individual Juniors select. Many pictures 
for such use may be found among the advertisements in the 
magazines. 

These books, whether of four pages or more, should have 
a cover bearing the title of the book and name of the author. 
They may also have an inside title-page and be inscribed where 
so desired. 

The illustration of hymns as honor work or as part o£ 
certain lesson work not only engages the activities and arouses 
the interest, but if the Juniors select illustrations appropriate 
to certain parts of the hymn, these hymns come to mean 
much more to them. 

IV. Materials and Methods 

1. Equipment. Manual work, whatever form it takes, 
necessitates some equipment and the expenditure of some 
money. The Graded Lesson System provides the principal 
equipment needed in the students' notebooks, the other requi- 
sites being scissors, paste, and pencils. Where the work on 
these books is done at home, a manila envelope or portfolio 
of light weight mounting-board not only enables the Junior to 
keep his book in good order, but prevents the loss of the pic- 
tures which must be given him from week to week. 

A scrap-box or series of boxes, in which all pictures col- 
lected and cut out by the Juniors may be kept according to 
subject, is a valuable source of supply. Allowing the Jun- 
iors to select their own pictures from this supply gives oppor- 
tunity for the exercise of originality, while it also necessitates 
real thought and knowledge of the story. 

Where the Graded Lessons are not used, blank books or, 
better still, loose-leaved notebooks are best adapted to Junior 
work. 

11 



i6o THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

Postcard albums in which the department is making a col- 
lection of cards on different subjects, or postcards for the illus^ 
tration of notebooks, or cards on the back of which the lesson 
story or facts are written, all offer a variation in the regular 
work that is helpful. 

The table, which seems so essential if handwork is to be 
done, is the obstacle with many. If the manual work is done 
outside the regular Sunday-school hour the difficulty is in a 
Table measure removed, as some devices can be utilized 

that could not be introduced in the room with 
the rest of the school. A wide board resting on two boxes 
is a good substitute for a table, if the Church does not own 
the adjustable tables that are made by placing the tops on 
horses or supports of the desired height. The will is sufficient 
in every case to make a way. 

"And so the work differs and deepens as knowledge and 
experience widen. Geography is preparatory and introductory 
and gives the background of any event or series of events, 
which we call a period. Illustrative work makes clear the de- 
tails of any specific event or story. Written work in the forms 
of narratives, composition, or notebook work records and in- 
terprets the events." (Littlefield.) 

2. Time. The time problem is indeed a vexing one, the 
lesson period being so very brief. Time may well be appro- 
priated, however, for handwork that is connected with the 
lesson and its presentation. Even if occasionally a task should 
require the entire lesson period, do not be afraid to so use it. 
"The object in teaching is not to cover so many pages of a 
book, but to master certain facts. Introductory geography 
work in sand or color to give the background of the events 
of a whole period may well be considered to be the lesson for 
one Sunday. Time is not lost when it is spent in "laying a 
thorough foundation for future work." 

Much handwork should be done outside of the Sunday- 
school session, as for example, all decorative and constructive 
work. "So also with the mounting of pictures, writing quota- 



HANDWORK FOR JUNIORS 161 

tions, title-pages, and all the work of perfecting the books. 
This kind of work can be done best by bringing the class to- 
gether at the church or the teacher's home for the purpose." 
3. Ways and means. Few specific directions for hand- 
work are necessary. This is a field in which there is only 
one way to learn how; that is, by practice. "Learn to do by 
doing." Much practical help may be secured by the thought- 
ful reading of a thorough treatment of the subject, such as 
Littlefield's "Handwork in the Sunday-school." 1 By the aid 
of this book and a conviction of the value of manual methods 
any Junior teacher can win her way to success. 

Lesson Outline: 

I. The Value of Handwork. 

1. Assists memory. 

2. Impresses truth. 

3. Provides for self-expression. 

II. Adaptation to the Junior Department. 

III. Types of Handwork. 

1. Illustrative. 

2. Geographical. 

3. Written. 

IV. Materials and Methods. 

1. Equipment. 

2. Time. 

3. Ways and means. 

Topic for Special Study: 

1. The use of manual work in the public school. 

Topics for Class Discussion: 

1. What is to be said of the value of handwork? 

2. What special adaptation has handwork to the Junior 

Department ? 

1 "Handwork in the Sunday-school," M. S. Littlefield. The Sunday 
School Times Co.; price, $1 net. 



i6j THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

3. What are the chief forms of handwork? 

4. What forms of handwork are best adapted to the 

Junior age? 

5. The time for manual work. 

6. What equipment is needed for the work? 



CHAPTER XVI 
MUSIC 

"The first thing a pious Jew taught his child was that 
glorious song, Deuteronomy 6:4: 'Hear, O Israel ! The Lord 
our God is one God : and thou shalt love Him with all thy 
heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might/ " This 
was in obedience to the Divine command, "Thou shalt teach 
them diligently to thy children." Doubtless this was the first 
word of Scripture that Jesus learned. It was thus that God's 
people from the very earliest time recognized the value of 
singing the essence of their religion into the hearts and lives 
of the boys and girls. 

The Hebrew nation preserved the great events of its his- 
tory in song, and to-day that which might have been recorded 
as mere history endures as living, pulsating truth, that kin- 
dles fires of holy feeling as in them our hearts recognize our 
own unexpressed emotions and desires. 

I. Importance of the Subject 

"The songs which we sometimes make our children sing 
are an insult to the self-respect and beautiful dignity of youth. 
They are often the merest twaddle, having neither sense nor 
Children's imagination. It is surprising how readily even 
Preference young children respond to songs which to the 
for the uninstructed might seem far beyond their powers 

ymns o ^ appreciation. In taking a vote on the subject 
of favorite hymns lately in a Junior League, the hymn which 
received the highest number of votes was "Rock of Ages," 
while "Onward, Christian Soldiers" and "Coronation" fol- 
lowed close behind. These children were accustomed to sing- 

163 * 



i6 4 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

ing such fairly good hymns as "Take the World, but Give Me 
Jesus," "Trust and Obey," and the like, but decidedly pre- 
ferred the best which had been taught them. In a certain 
Sunday-school which doubtless fairly represents the average 
in intelligence, the prime favorites are "The Son of God 
Goes forth to War," "For all the Saints, Who from Their 
Labors Rest," "Welcome, Happy Morning," "Brightly Gleams 
Our Banner," "When Morning Gilds the Skies," "Love Di- 
vine, All Love Excelling," "Fling Out the Banner," "Angel 
Voices Ever Singing," and others of like excellent quality." * 

"The future rectitude and happiness of those who have 
such sentiments and songs singing in their hearts might almost 
be guaranteed." 

It has been said that the great hymns of the Church are 
the best method of teaching the great truths of Christianity. 
The sea, mountains, sun and stars, are symbols of the greater 
Power that created them. Their vastness hints at the greater 
qualities which called them into being, as in Addison's hymn, 
"The Spacious Firmament on High," or Faber's "There's a 
Wideness in God's Mercy Like the Wideness of the Sea." The 
sentiment of the hymn of Emily Dickenson — 
"I never saw the moor, 
I never saw the sea; 
Yet know I how the heather looks 
And what a wave may be. 

"I never spoke with God, 
Nor visited in heaven; 
Yet certain am I of the spot 
As if a chart were given," — 

expresses the same great truth more explicitly declared by 
Palmer's "My Faith Looks Up to Thee," or by Whittier's 
words : 

"I know not where His islands lift their fronded palms in air, 
I only know I can not drift beyond His love and care." 

1 Northwestern Christian Advocate, 



MUSIC 165 

The doctrine of the Trinity is nowhere more perfectly 
taught than in "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty," nor 
the Divine indwelling than in "Love Divine, All Love Ex- 
celling." 

II. The Selection of Hymns 

In the choice of hymns certain things should be kept in 
mind. 

1. Music that appeals. This is important. The Junior 
age is the age of doing, and the hymns of activity, particu- 
larly those of a martial nature, appeal most strongly. Songs 
of conquest are sure to ring out. Here belong "Onward, 
Christian Soldiers," "Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus," "Faith 
of Our Fathers," and "The Son of God Goes Forth to War." 
"There is no lack of 'go* in any of these songs. It will be 
found on fair trial that all the joyful or militant songs which 
are suitable to a hymnal for adults are equally adaptable to 
a hymnal for children and young people." 

2. Hymns that inspire. The Juniors are at an age when 
ideals for life are being formed. Quite unconsciously to them- 
selves every song they hear has its influence in shaping these 
ideals. There should be among the hymns used in the De- 
partment songs that will inspire to a love and service of God 
and of fellow-men. The truth expressed in verse and melody 
will sink deep into the heart and lie fallow until some expe- 
rience in life shall call it forth. Hymns expressing the joy 
of service, the beauty of all created things, hymns of conse- 
cration, patriotic hymns, hymns expressing admiration for 
strength should be frequently sung, and some of them com- 
mitted to memory. In addition to others already mentioned 
in this chapter the following are worthful: "Jerusalem, the 
Golden," "My Soul, Be on Thy Guard," "Oh, Worship the 
King," "A Charge to Keep I Have," "Now the Day is Over," 
"Prince of Peace, Control My Will," "Courage, Brother, Do 
Not Stumble," "Christ for the World." Tunes have an in- 



166 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

spirational value, as well as the words, and should be carefully 
considered. 

3. Choice of song book. Careful attention should be 
given to the selection of a book for the Department. Do not 
let price be the deciding factor. The issues involved are too 
great for choice to be determined by a few cents' difference 
in price. Neither should popularity of a book be the criterion. 
A book should be selected for its educative and religious 
value, not because it appeals to a cheap popularity. Book- 
makers have been too prone to be influenced by this latter 
thing. In the publication of a new book recently one of the 
publishers insisted on ruling out a number of the best hymns 
and substituting jingles whose words meant nothing, giving 
as his reason that he knew the kind of music that Sunday- 
schools liked and that they must make a book that would 
sell. Alas ! that is the standard on which many of the Sunday- 
school books are compiled. 

This places the responsibility of the selection of the book 
almost wholly on the local Department Committee. The se- 
lection should be made by a committee who understand the 
mind of the child, the influence of music upon him, and the 
co-ordinate value of music and words. The best musician in 
the Church should be a member of this committee. 1 

In the Junior Department song books should form part of 
the equipment, and if possible these should be sufficient in 
number so that each may have a book. The proper handling 
and care of these books should be made one feature of the 
responsibility of and loyalty to the Department. Words with- 
out the music detract from the dignity of the book. Paper- 
covered books are suggestive of careless handling and little 
value. 



1 Attention is directed to the fact that the Board of Sunday Schools 
has recently issued the "Methodist Sunday School Hymnal." It has been 
ably edited, and especial attention has been given to the selection of 
hymns suitable for each department. This Hymnal should be in use in 
every Methodist school. 



MUSIC 167 

III. Memorization of Hymns 

Bishop Henry W. Warren says in his introduction to 
"Fifty-two Memory Hymns :" "In Manila I heard 1,700 Chris- 
tians sing, like the voice of many waters, in a general love- 
feast. They had but thirty-six hymns translated into their 
language, but they knew them (had memorized them) all. 
Thirty-six hymns known are better than a thousand not 
known." Again he says, "One hymn a week treasured in 
the mind is worth the whole thirty thousand in a book." 
Lessons may be forgotten, admonitions unheeded, and pre- 
cepts disregarded, but the song that sings itself has a tenacity 
of power that is irresistible. Who has not Lad a refrain or 
couplet sing itself over and over again throughout the day 
with a persistency that, if the refrain was a senseless ditty, 
was exasperating, or if it was a note of hope, brought re- 
newed courage and strength. 

There is a loftiness and dignity in the language of the 
best hymns — and none but the best are good enough for Jun- 
iors — that is a mental and spiritual stimulus and, next to 
the Bible itself, should have the largest place in the mental 
storehouse of every boy and girl. 

The acquaintance with the hymns of the Church has a 
large influence in making boys and girls at home in the 
church service, and the memorizing of them enables them to 
take part in the service even though they may not be supplied 
with books. No amount of hearing can compare in its in- 
fluence with participation in the singing. 

IV. Singing 

1. In the school. There are few children of Junior age 
who can not sing. As a rule they love to sing. Do not make 
the mistake of thinking mere volume of noise, singing. By 
overurging to effort the boys, and the girls as well, will yell 
at the top of their voices and soon ruin the quality of tone. 
Straining the voice at this time, owing to changing physio- 
logical conditions, is likely to result in permanent injury. The 



i68 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

idea should be to have every child sing, not loudly, but with 
what power he has, on the key, and in accurate time. To 
accomplish this the music should be such as appeals to the 
Junior mind. Do not sing too many stanzas of one song. 
Let there be variety in the selections for a given Sunday. Oc- 
casionally allow the children to make selection. The boys 
may sing one stanza and the girls another, all joining in the 
chorus. Whistling, if used sparingly, may be effective. 

2. The Junior choir. By all means have a Junior choir. 
It can not, of course, have the four parts, but every school 
will have a number of both boys and girls with excellent so- 
prano and alto voices. They must sing. Get them together 
once a week for practice of the Sunday-school hymns and 
such simple anthems as come within the range of their powers. 
The best chorister available is none too good for the Junior 
choir. If the Junior Department has a room of its own, let 
this choir lead the singing. If not, they may occasionally 
render a special song before the whole school. The Junior 
choir may well be used in the regular services of the Church, 
adding to the inspiration of the services, fostering the habits 
of church-going, and of assuming responsibilities in Church 
work. 

Lesson Outline: 

I. Importance of the Subject. 
II. The Selection of Hymns. 

1. Music that appeals, 

2. Hymns that inspire. 

3. Choice of Song Book. 

III. Memorization of Hymns. 

IV. Singing. 

1. In the school. 

2. The Junior choir. 

Topic for Special Study: 

1. The religious influence of music. 



MUSIC 169 

Topics for Class Discussion: 

1. To what extent do children prefer the best hymns? 

2. What is to be said of hymns as a method of teaching 

religious truth? 

3. Name important principles to be regarded in select- 

ing hymns. 

4. How should a Department Song Book be chosen ? 

5. What is the value of hymn memorization? 

6. Why have a Junior choir? 



CHAPTER XVII 
SPECIAL DAYS 

L The Observance of Special Days 

i. Prevalence. The observance of special days is as old 
as the Israelitish people; indeed, it seems as though their 
religion consisted largely in the celebration of religious festi- 
vals. The anniversary of their emancipation from the slavery 
of Egypt was observed by an entire week of religious serv- 
ices; the ingathering of the harvest and many other annual 
events were made occasions for the recognition of Jehovah. 
The secular schools of to-day consider the observance of 
special days an important factor in the educational work of 
the school and in the training of a loyal, patriotic citizenship. 
The Sunday-school can not afford to take second place to 
the secular schools in recognizing the educational value of 
these observances, nor can it afford to allow these days to 
be separated from their proper religious setting. 

2. Purpose. The observance of special days in the Sun- 
day-school gives opportunity for instruction in missions and 
temperance, and, in the case of the religious festivals, op- 
portunity for the deepening of the religious life. The National 
holidays give the opportunity for the cultivation of Christian 
patriotism and the recognition of the hand of God in the af- 
fairs of our Nation; and the Sunday-school recognition days, 
as Rally Day, Graduation Sunday, and Children's Day, make 
it possible to awaken a greater enthusiasm among the boys 
and girls for their own school and to stimulate the interest 
of parents. 

170 4 



SPECIAL DAYS 171 

3. Plans. The Graded Series with its fixed number oi 
lessons raises the question as to how this work can be accom- 
plished if so many special days are to be observed. These 
Special Days l essons provide for temperance instruction as 
and the part of the series, and thus do away with the 

Graded necessity for breaking into the regular lessons 

for these. Some of the religious festivals are 
also planned for as a part of the course, but to meet the 
demands for the observance of other special days will neces- 
sitate some readjustment. 

In taking a forward look over the lessons for the quarter 
one should take into consideration the special days which will 
occur during that period, and the dates on which they occur. 
Certain lessons may then be combined so that the sequence 
need not be interrupted. Or, if it seems impossible or un- 
wise to effect a combination, the lessons may run over into 
the period allotted to the summer lessons, and one or more of 
these be omitted. 

II. Days for Special Instruction 

1. Missionary. The Graded Lesson series makes provi- 
sion for missionary instruction. In the second year of the 
Junior course, after a study of the early followers of Christ, 
there are a number of lessons on "The Later Followers of the 
Lord Jesus," studies in the lives of representative mission- 
aries, as William Carey, Robert Morrison, Adoniram Judson, 
and David Livingstone. The heroic element in the lives of 
these missionaries gives exceedingly interesting and helpful 
material for Junior lessons. Again, in the fourth year of 
the course an entire quarter is devoted to stories from "Lives 
of Later Missionaries." 

When the Uniform Lessons are in use it will probably 
be best to give missionary instruction as supplemental work. 
This may be done either by the Department Superintendent 
from the platform or by the teacher before or following the 
regular lesson, preferably by the teacher, as in well-graded 

4 



t72 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

schools the supplemental work is made one basis for deter- 
mining promotion. Ten minutes should be sufficient time for 
the purpose. In "Supplemental Lessons for the Elementary 
Grades" (Leaflet No. 12, Sunday School Series), missionary 
supplemental work is confined to the fourth year. A larger 
place than this should be given to it. Material of instruction 
may be found in such a book as the author's Heroes of the 
Early Church. 1 Missionary stories afford excellent teaching 
material, such as "How the Spotted Tiger Was Foiled/' found 
in Chapter XIV of The Cobra's Den, Chamberlain. Appro- 
priate story material may be found in abundance in mission- 
ary literature. The teacher should also give attention to the 
missionary interpretation of the regular Bible lessons, making 
sure that every lesson which by direct statement or clear im- 
plication teaches missionary truth is so interpreted as to give 
the largest missionary impression. 

The Church by legislation has made provision for a 
monthly Missionary Day. Where the Sunday-school observes 
the day by a missionary program this might well take the 
place of the supplemental work suggested above on that day. 

In all schools some decoration of the Junior room should 
give silent missionary teaching. A missionary world map, 
foreign flags, and pictures of missionary heroes will effectively 
direct attention to the world field. Of all departments of the 
school the Juniors will be most interested in the collection of 
missionary curios. A cabinet of ample proportions might well 
be placed in the Junior room, and the boys and girls enlisted 
in building up a collection. Many interesting and instructive 
curios may be purchased for a small sum of missionaries. 
The boys, especially, will find other sources of supply. 

2. Temperance. It has been the custom for many years 
to have one temperance lesson each quarter, and various plans 
are in use in observance of this special temperance day. In 
the Graded Lesson system the instruction is given in a series 



1 Published by Jennings & Graham, Cincinnati and Chicago. Price, 
50 cents net; postage, 7 cents. 

4 



SPECIAL DAYS 173 

of consecutive lessons rather than once a quarter. The Sun- 
day-school teachers have many opportunities for teaching tem- 
perance, and these teachings may be unified and strengthened 
by having a special program once in a while. Like the mis- 
sionary program, this need not take the entire period, but in 
a brief time a few striking facts may be given, a story told, or 
a chart displayed. 

III. Religious Festivals 

1. Easter. Easter is the great joy day of the Church, a 
day of holy rejoicing and exultation. Its observance must be 
dignified, pervaded with joy, carrying throughout a marked 
spirit of reverence. The Bible Easter lesson should form a 
part of the service always; no story in song or poetry can 
ever take the place of the beautiful Easter story. To the 
Primary child the story brings no difficulties; to the literal 
Junior it becomes a story of mystery, and the symbols often 
used may confuse rather than help. The personality and joy 
of the teacher teaches the Easter lesson. There is that in 
the Easter spirit that makes it a fitting occasion for a service 
of the entire school together. 

2. Christmas. Christmas is the children's special day as 
Easter is the great day for the adults. To the Juniors it 
should become a memory day, and become closely connected 
in their thought with John 3 : 16. The best method of pre- 
paring the soil for the Christmas lesson is in planning a giving 
Christmas, that the talk and the thought of the weeks previ- 
ous shall be centered on giving rather than receiving. The 
more definite and personal this giving, the greater its value. 

The Christmas party or entertainment should be separated 
from the real Christmas Sunday-school service. If the 
Christmas spirit has sung itself into the heart and life of the 
boys and girls in the learning of the Christmas carols, the 
Sunday-school hour, whether a department service or other- 
wise, will be pervaded with this spirit, and the story of God's 
greatest gift enter into a heart ready to respond to the mes- 
sage. 4 



174 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

3. Thanksgiving. The pause for a definite period of 
thanksgiving is a real need of Junior boys and girls. Life 
has so much for them, and they are so busy having a good 
time that they are prone to forget the Author and Giver of 
that good time. This day should be observed by departments, 
and in many cases the regularly assigned lesson yields natu- 
rally to this application. The habit of being thankful and ex- 
pressing it is one that is frequently overlooked, and yet it is 
one that adds much to the joy of living, both for one's self 
and others, and exerts so wide an influence over the life that 
every Junior teacher should give attention to its cultivation 
in boys and girls. 

IV. Other Days to Be Observed 

1. Patriotic. 

(a) Memorial Day. Memorial Day in this generation af- 
fords an opportunity for impressing several lessons. Pri- 
marily it is a day for paying respect to those who have served 
their country with a life service, and for awakening a spirit 
of true loyalty and patriotism. This may best be done by the 
salute to the flag led by a veteran, the presence of old sol- 
diers, the singing of patriotic songs, and an address by a 
veteran, if one can be secured who knows how to talk to 
boys and girls. 

Incidentally, it is an opportunity for teaching respect for 
old age. Possibly the old soldier, who may be decrepit, 
garrulous, and almost childish, does not ordinarily appeal to 
the boy as an object of veneration, yet on Memorial Day 
he will be seen through different eyes, and, unconsciously, 
all old age with him. 

(b) Fourth of July. Again the flag and patriotic songs 
will mark the day. These may constitute the entire patriotic 
service, but where a man is available who can give a patriotic 
address that shall make every boy and girl feel a personal re- 
sponsibility for keeping his own country one which can own 
God as its God, every one of those boys and girls will march 



SPECIAL DAYS 175 

out from Sunday-school with a little firmer tread, with heads 
carried a little higher, and with a new inspiration for right 
living. 

(c) Birthdays. The days which are celebrated by the 
public school, as National or State holidays, need be observed 
in the school only by the placing of the appropriate picture on 
the wall, and the use of the patriotic hymns and songs. 
These can not be sung too frequently, and Juniors love to 
sing them. 

2. Recognition Days. 

(a) Children's Day has long been the day for the recogni- 
tion of the Sunday-school by the Church. Its celebration is as 
a school, and it is a time when departmental lines are obliter- 
ated and all are one in a service of song and joy. This serv- 
ice, while none the less religious, is a little lighter in its na- 
ture than the Christmas or Easter service. It partakes of the 
spirit of flowers and birds and singing boys and girls. In 
order that the interest of the Juniors may be keen, the pro- 
gram must be so planned that they will have their own spe- 
cial parts, as they do not enjoy being classed with the Primary 
children in anything. 

The special offering by both children and parents has come to 
be a part of this service. In Churches where this offering is for 
a special purpose, as in the Methodist Episcopal Church, where 
it is devoted to the Children's Educational Fund, this object 
will in some way be represented on the program. The Juniors 
will be more interested if this is previously talked over and 
envelopes given them with the object marked on the outside, 
in which their money may be placed. 

(b) Promotion. In the graded schools this is coming into 
prominent place. The Sunday-school hour is hardly sufficient 
for this, and as it is a time when every parent should be pres- 
ent, the custom of devoting the morning church service to it 
is becoming quite general. In order to have its true value, 
this must be a service for the entire school. 

A public presentation of the required work of the Junior 
12 * 



176 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

Department will form part of this program. Each year's work 
should be represented ; whether by classes or by the several 
classes in each year, will be determined by the size of the 
school. 

The graduates from each department may have their 
class flower or color which should be in evidence, also a class 
banner if desired. They should be examined by the Superin- 
tendent of the school on what has been determined upon as 
required work, and at the appointed time in the service re- 
ceive their Certificates presented by the Superintendent of the 
school. 

Every effort should be made to make the Promotion exer- 
cises stand out with prominence in the Junior Department, as 
this is one of the best methods of keeping up the fluctuating 
interest of boys and girls of this age. 

Preparation should be made throughout the year that 
there be no cramming just before promotion day. This can 
best be done by definite work being outlined for each month 
and a record kept. 

(c) Rally Day. Enthusiastic activity is one secret of suc- 
cess, but the securing of this enthusiastic activity is greatly 
facilitated by an enthusiastic beginning, such as is afforded 
by Rally Day. 

In general, in time it should approximate in date the open- 
ing of the public schools, though if it be known that many of 
the teachers will not have returned from their vacations at 
that time, it should be held later. The first Sunday of Octo- 
ber is a favorite day with many schools. 

Rally Day is the accepted time for recognition of the Board 
of Sunday Schools and its work by the school. An official 
program is prepared for Methodist Schools which should be 
used wherever possible. 1 The missionary work of the Board 
in the home and the foreign field, its work in behalf of the 



1 Sample copy for the current year may be secured free upon appli- 
cation to The Board of Sunday Schools, 14 W. Washington St., Chi- 
cago, 111. 

4 



SPECIAL DAYS 177 

development and upbuilding of our schools, and the remark- 
ably successful work in founding new Sunday-schools on the 
frontier should be adequately presented to the whole school, 
and an opportunity given for all to share in its enterprises 
by bringing an offering. This is the one distinctively Sunday- 
school benevolence of the Church, and as such it should be 
nobly supported by the Sunday-schools. 

Rally Day affords the best opportunity in the year for an 
advance both in attendance and enrollment. One objective 
of each department should be "Every pupil, every teacher, and 
every officer present." Beyond this a goal should be fixed in 
a certain number of new scholars to be brought in, a number 
sufficiently large to inspire earnest effort and yet not so large 
as to be impossible of attainment. Once decided upon, let the 
aid of every Junior be enlisted to reach it. The Juniors them- 
selves can do more than anybody else to bring in boys and 
girls not in Sunday-school. 

(d) Decision Day. Decision Day has been placed among 
the recognition days as a day on which boys and girls should 
be brought to recognize the need of expressing their decision 
to continue in God's service. In the Junior Department this 
should be led up to by each teacher in his own class for some 
weeks previous to the appointed day. On the Sunday previ- 
ous to that known as Decision Day, in the place of the lesson, 
the Superintendent should have a very plain, simple talk with 
the boys and girls, bringing to a climax the work of the class 
teachers. At the close each teacher may give to the class 
members a card with some simple form of confession written 
or printed upon it, such as : 

"I love God, I want to belong to Him, I will try to obey 
Him and be the kind of a Christian He wants me to be. 

Name 

Address " 

Ask the boys and girls to take these home, to think about 
it and pray about it during the week, and if it is just what 
they mean, to return the signed cards to the teacher the fol- 

4 



178 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

lowing Sunday. If thought best the talk may be given on 
Decision Sunday and the cards signed at once. 

A special lesson either in classes or for the department, 
followed by a consecration service, may complete the Decision 
Day program. Decision Day should be the culmination 
of the lessons for the entire year; yet every Sunday must be 
a decision day; the setting aside of a special day is simply a 
means of focussing effort. 

Lesson Outline: 

I. The Observance of Special Days, 
i. Prevalence. 

2. Purpose. 

3. Plans. 

II. Days of Special Instruction. 

1. Missionary. 

2. Temperance. 

III. Religious Festivals. 

1. Easter. 

2. Christmas. 

3. Thanksgiving. 

IV. Other Days. 

1. Patriotic. 

2. Recognition Days. 

Topic for Special Study: 

1. Best ways of observing Decision Day. 

Topics for Class Discussion: 

1. Special days of the past. 

2. What are some of the advantages of observance of 

special days ? 

3. How may missionary and temperance instruction be 

best planned for? 

4. Why should the religious holidays have special ob- 

servance in the Sunday-school? 

4 



SPECIAL DAYS 179 

5. How can the Christmas service be made of the most 

value to the Junior Department? 

6. What service may the national holidays render in 

the religious training of the Juniors? 

7. What is the value of Rally Day? 

8. What is the real import of Decision Day in the 

Junior Department? 



CHAPTER XVIII 
ACTIVITIES 

I. The Need 

It is Sunday morning. The Junior is in his best attire, 
and walks sedately to the church. He is expected to sit 
still and listen intently, and apparently he may, though his 
mind is likely to be on a ball game he played 
junior 1 " ** on Saturday, or he may be planning revenge on 
the boy who did not play fair ; but all this is un- 
der the Sunday clothes and out of sight. The lesson over, he 
goes home to put Sunday-school and church out of mind until 
the coming of the next Sunday morning and his Sunday 
clothes bring it to his thoughts. 

Monday morning. Can this be the same Junior who yes- 
terday walked so demurely to Sunday-school ? He starts from 
the house with a shout, goes on the run to join his compan- 
ions, is full of enthusiasm in all he has to say. The school bell 

_ ... . rings, and he goes in because he must. But the 
The Week 

Day Junior lessons are a part of the day's work, and are en- 
tered into with more or less zest. The gymnasium 
arouses his enthusiasm, but his goal is the recess 
or close of school. That is his hour. The ball game is re- 
newed. Has the Sunday-school any opportunity on that ball 
ground? Is not this the laboratory for experimental work 
in the very truths taught in the school? 

With activity as the outstanding characteristic of the 
Junior age, activities must of necessity become the strong 
motive power in the formation of character. 

The Junior Department which takes cognizance of devel- 

180 * 



ACTIVITIES 181 

oping instincts will strive to provide for them some form 
of week-day expression, both because they form the best op- 
portunity for expression in life of the principles the school 
would instill, and also because it is the Church's great oppor- 
tunity for holding the boy and the girl who have no Christian 
influences at home, and for making them feel that the Church 
is their home, interested in everything they are interested in, 
and affording them opportunities to have a good time; not 
simply a place to go on Sunday. 

II. Provision for the Need 

The week-day activities must furnish the experiment sta- 
tion for religious teaching, but experiment stations must be 
under the supervision of experts; laboratory work needs a 
guide. "But," say Church officers, "what can we do ? We can not 
have rough and tumble boys playing in or about the church, 
or even the girls with their dolls and candy making. They 
would wear out the carpets, and keep the church in a litter." 
"The Church of Christ," says Bishop McDowell, "has too 
long been in the business of saving carpets." The ideal 
Church will have its gymnasium and play-room, which 
shall be open during the week to boys and girls. As yet ideal 
Churches are the exception, but this does not relieve the 
Church of its responsibility. 

For the out-of-door games, especially of the boys, this 
question is not so serious, as a vacant lot is usually accessible. 
For the girls a big front porch is an ideal meeting place for 
p lace warm weather, and may suggest the name of a 

"Porch Club." Many a mother will be willing to 
entertain a Porch Club regularly who would feel it a great tax 
to make her house the club meeting place. Under competent 
leadership boys* clubs have dug out basements and made their 
own club rooms. Sometimes a Church member will be found 
who believes in boys and girls, and will open a finished base- 
ment for their use. An ideal place for warm weather meet- 
ings is a tent, if one can be secured. But the average club 

4 



182 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

must hold its indoor meetings in some room of the church, or 
at the homes of the members or of the leader. This will of 
necessity be another factor in the determining of the form 
of week-day activity. 

III. Unorganized Activities 

i. For special work. Under this head would come the 
weekly gatherings held for the purpose of doing the manual 
work given in connection with the Sunday-school lesson. 
These week-day meetings are far less formal than the Sun- 
day service, and the manual work is usually of a nature that 
is in itself interesting and satisfies the demand for activity. 
At such meetings part of the period is spent in the definite 
work, the remainder in a social time with games or out-of- 
door sports. These meetings may be held in the homes of 
teachers or in the church. 

2. For good times. Fortunate are the teachers who can 
plan to occasionally meet their pupils just for good times. 
One afternoon at a social or picnic gives a better chance for 
getting acquainted than many weeks in Sunday-school. Elab- 
orate preparations for entertainment are unnecessary. The 
Juniors have many games which they delight in playing, and 
can amuse themselves with very little help. It is always well, 
however, for the teacher or leader to have a few plans in re- 
serve. Bean-bags, potato races, guessing-games, and the like, 
are ever popular. Besides the regular socials and picnics it 
is sometimes possible to have bird walks, flower hunts, nutting 
parties. A few schools have had summer camps, where dur- 
ing the pleasant weather the boys camped out one week and 
the girls another. This may not be possible in all places, but 
the schools that have tried it are enthusiastic over the results. 

IV. Organized Activities 

The organized activities appeal more strongly to the boys 
and girls who love to "belong" to something. These organi- 
zations should be very simple. They may be on either the 
mass or the group plan, or a combination of the two. 

4 



ACTIVITIES 183 

The mass organization may include the entire membership 

of the department, or may include all the boys in one club 

^ and the girls in another. In schools that are not 

Mass Organ- « • • -n r 1 1 e a < 

ization t0 ° l ar £ e tms will frequently be found to be 

the best plan, as the question of leadership is 

usually a serious one. 

If, however, certain lines of organization are taken up, a 

Group Plan limited number can work to a better advantage. 

This will necessitate the group plan, in which each 

class or the Juniors of each year may be grouped together. 

The real enjoyment in club organization comes not so 
much from the organization as from organizing. The adult 
finds it difficult to realize this and feels that he must present 
a perfected organization, while, as a matter of fact, although 
he may have a perfected plan in mind, he should present the 
merest skeleton and allow the boys and girls to work out 
their own organization. 

From three to six months may be profitably spent in this 
way, with the interest at white heat, the while the Juniors 
are learning parliamentary usages, developing constructive 
ability, calling out their judgment and practicing self-control. 
The organization completed, something different or new will 
needs be suggested at every meeting, and constant variety 
offered. 

1. The Athletic Club. The athletic club is the most 
popular and the most easily attainable. The ball team, roller 
skating, tennis or croquet club for summer occupation, and 
gymnasium or physical culture clubs for winter, are within 
the reach of most Sunday-schools and perfectly meet the 
needs of the Junior. When a gymnasium is not accessible 
the military drill, or simply game hours at the church or in 
some appointed place, will fill the need. 

2. Philanthropic Clubs. Forms of philanthropic work 
may with advantage be introduced for part of the year into 
any club and be made the means of the creation of permanent 
interests. It may take the form of toy-menders, book-binders 

4 



i3 4 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

(making scrap-books), doll-dress makers, candy-makers, 
Christmas makers, or any other club that shall occupy itself 
in helping or making a good time for others. 

A Snow Shovel Brigade, to look after walks of elderly 
people, or a Tomahawk Club, to split wood and kindling, 
may also be included. In every Junior club some philan- 
thropic interest should enlist the sympathies and activities. 

3. Educational Clubs. The educational clubs, in name, 
are not especially attractive to Juniors. But if the name is 
sugar-coated and they are a "Society of the First Aid to the 
Injured," with ambulance, hospital and fire drills, or a "Press 
Club," with cards or a paper of their own to print, a carpenter 
shop, a debating society, a missionary congress, a kitchen- 
garden, cooking or fancy work club, they become very fasci- 
nating. 

The organization would be identical with the plan sug- 
gested under unorganized activities, with the exception of a 
name, officers, and a business meeting, and of course a pin 
or button and a yell. 

4. Methodist Boys' Organization. The Methodist 
Knights, with its several orders adapted to the various pe- 
riods of the boy's life, and with its activities covering all 
phases of the boy's interests, is the most complete organiza- 
tion for boys before the Church. Its Order of the Loyal 
Princes is designed especially for boys of the Junior age. 1 

V. Summary 

For the average worker and the average school a club or 
federation having a name, officers, a pin, and a very flexible 

constitution is the best basis for week-day activi- 
of Plan * lts - This places the responsibility for definite 

plans for week-day work on the persons appointed 
for that purpose, and yet leaves opportunity for the introduc- 
tion of any of the suggested plans at the given time, or al- 

1 F^ull information concerning the Methodist Knights may be obtained 
by writing to The Board of Sunday Schools, 14 W. Washington Street, 
Chicago, 111. 






ACTIVITIES 185 

lows for meetings and programs that will be suggested by 
current events. 

The ideal club embraces the best in all clubs. It will in- 
troduce activities meeting the special interests of the different 
seasons, the athletics and out-of-door games for spring, fall, 
and summer, and the educational, philanthropic, and in-door 
games for the winter months. 

The gist of the whole matter is the question of directed 
or undirected activity, far more than the question of method ; 
and the teacher who makes boys and girls feel that Sunday- 
school and the truths there taught touch their lives at every 
point and every day in the week; who enters into the week- 
day plans with as much earnestness as he does into the 
Sunday lesson, has solved the problem of the week-day activ- 
ities, whether by organization or without. 

Lesson Outline: 
L The Need. 
II. Provision for the Need. 

III. Unorganized Activities. 

IV. Organized Activities. 
V. Summary. 

Topic for Special Study: 

1. Possible provision for the social life of boys and 
girls. 

Topics for Class Discussion: 

1. The attitude of the Church toward the social life of 

boys and girls. 

2. The social instincts of Juniors. 

3. The method of unorganized activities. 

4. The Mass Club and Group Club. 

5. What forms of athletic organization are advisable? 

6. How may the Juniors be enlisted in philanthropic 

work? 

4 



CHAPTER XIX 
PARENTS AND THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

I. The Sunday-school and the Home 

"Whoso shall cause one of these little ones that believe 
on Me to stumble, it is profitable for him that a great mill- 
stone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should 
be sunk in the depth of the sea," are the words not of a 
modern champion of child-study, not of those pioneers in the 
study of child-life, Pestalozzi and Froebel, nor even of Peter 
or of Paul, but of Him who said, "Suffer the children to 
come unto Me, and forbid them not, for of such is the King- 
dom of heaven." 

To-day he who looks with tenderness and love on the cold, 
still form that yesterday was the life and joy of the home, 
comforts his heart with the assurance that the little one has 
gone to be with Jesus in the Heavenly Father's home; but 
what of the one who daily fills the house with laughter, 
and who goes in and out, growing from laughing babyhood 
to noisy, rollicking boyhood or girlhood, from trustful, de- 
pendent childhood into self-assertive, independent youth? Is 
he any the less the child of God? 

Before answering this question one must* pause. Every 
baby comes into the world God's child, and every child of 
God has the right to be so trained that he may grow up as 
God's boy or girl. It is the privilege of every parent so to 
train his own child, who is at the same time God's child, 
that he may become conscious of his oneness with the Father 
without ever feeling any sense of separation from Him. If 
we believe this, as the Methodist Church and almost every 

186 * 



PARENTS AND THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL 187 

Christian of to-day does, then is it not the first obligation 
of parenthood to see that the child receives this instruction 
and training that shall enable him to enter into the full pos- 
session of his birthright in God's Kingdom? 

This is one of the great privileges that many parents ut- 
terly neglect, or which they are more than willing to dele- 
gate to the Church or the Sunday-school. Many excuse them- 
selves by saying they do not know how, or they have not 
the time for this training, that it takes all of their time to 
clothe and feed the children and look after their physical 
wants. Others, with an assumption of great humility, will 
say: "I want my child to have the best training when he is 
old enough to go to kindergarten and to Sunday-school. I 
shall not attempt to teach him myself, but send him where he 
may be under the instruction of trained workers, specialists 
in that line. ,, Still others see in the Sunday-school a co- 
operating agency which is to join hands with them in this 
training of their children for God. Alas, that so many have 
such implicit confidence in the efficiency of the Sunday-school 
that they are willing to trust their children absolutely to its 
training without knowing anything of its methods of work, 
its principles of instruction, or its teaching force! We hail 
the day when all parents, as some few parents now Ho, will 
spend one or more sessions in the Sabbath-school before en- 
tering a child as a pupil, in order that they may know the 
kind of instruction their children will receive. 

In the Junior Department of the Sunday-school the par- 
ent, whether he will or no, plays a very important part. The 

' . , . Junior is our literalist; he is reaching out to find 
The Junior's J . , .; , __ . . , 

View out wna t is worth while. He is measuring values 

according to his own rigid standard. He has not 

thought much about it before, but now as he looks round he 

notices that Tom's father is a teacher in the Sunday-school, 

and Mary's mother is never absent. What is the reason for 

this? His mother says that she can not get the children off 

to Sunday-school and go herself; but Mary's mother has just 



188 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

as many children. Father says he is gone all the week and 
must have that time to work in the yard ; but he knows Tom's 
father goes to business earlier and gets home later. What 
is the effect? It may be as one mother said, "I believe my 
boys are really ashamed of me because I do not attend Sunday- 
school ;" but far more often the decision reached is: "Well, 
my father is just as good as Tom's father. I guess I will 
stay and help him in the yard." Mother or father may object, 
and John may be compelled to go to Sunday-school for the 
present; but later, when the parents' constraint ceases to 
be exercised, he is one of those who drop out. On the other 
hand, the boy who walks to Sunday-school with father, the 
girl who knows that mother's place is never vacant, are look- 
ing forward not to "when I am old enough to leave Sunday- 
school," but to "when I am a Sunday-school teacher or an 
officer." 

Not every parent can be in active work in the Sunday- 
school, but he who is out of the Sunday-school of necessity 
may be very thoroughly in it in spirit, in co-operation, or 
in the Home Department, and our keen critics of the Junior 
Department quickly recognize the difference between a rea- 
son and an excuse. 

If, as we have assumed, the Junior age is a period fraught 
with great religious possibilities, the hero-worshiping Junior 
needs to see Christ in his every hero, that he too may want 
Christ in his life. Many a boy is deterred from an expres- 
sion of religious purpose because father is not a Christian. 
Many a girl refuses to become a member of Christ's Church, 
even though in heart she wants and means to be a Christian, 
because mother is careless and uninterested. A bright, sweet 
girl of ten of the author's acquaintance, as sincere a Chris- 
tian as a girl of that age could be, refused to become a 
Church member because she recognized inconsistencies in her 
mother's conduct. A leading physician in one of our Western 
cities says, "As a boy I wanted to be a Christian, and would 
have been; but my father was an avowed unbeliever, and I 



PARENTS AND THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL 189 

was determined not to be anything my father was not." Fur- 
thermore he says, "To-day I would be a Christian if my 
father were; but man though I am, I am not strong enough 
to take a stand that would build a wall between my father 
and myself." The most sincere efforts of the Junior worker 
are again and again foiled by parents who would be loud in 
their disclaimer of any intention to stand in the way of their 
boys and girls, for few parents realize the almost inviolable 
power of "I am going to be what my father or my mother is." 

II. The Parents' Part 

i. To co-operate. The irregular attendance and lack of 
punctuality on the part of pupils is due far more to thought- 
lessness on the part of parents than to carelessness on the 
part of the pupil. Sunday is the only day when 
Attendance father and mother can plan for the visit which 
they want to make together. Of course, the chil- 
dren must accompany them. An early start gives a longer 
day, and Sunday-school is entirely forgotten. Or it is cold 
or stormy, and somehow Sunday rain is so much wetter and 
Sunday cold so much more severe than week-day weather 
that children who never miss a day from school are kept at 
home lest they take cold. Then, too, six days in the week 
father must be up early and off to business, and mother must 
have the children all ready for school by half-past eight; 
therefore Sunday morning father must have an opportunity 
to sleep and mother must have one day in the week when 
she does not need to hurry. The result is a late breakfast 
and children late to Sunday-school, if they get there at all. 

What is to be done ? The only answer is : Secure by every 
possible means the co-operation of the parents, especially help 
them to realize that the work of the Sunday-school, instead 
of being of less importance, is vastly more important than 
that of the day school. 

Many a teacher has been greatly puzzled by the subject of 
lesson preparation at home. He has found himself foiled 



ipo THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

and his lesson rendered almost a failure by the presence of 
one pupil who "knew it all" and had been taught from an 
utterly different point of view from that which the teacher de- 
sired to present, yet he knows that some prepara- 
Preparation ^ on * or tne lesson adds greatly to its value. The 
term "home study," in which the co-operation of 
parents is so necessary, really means the study of such things 
as may be assigned by the teacher. The pupils* notebooks 
in the Graded Lessons definitely indicate home work for each 
day in the week, and readily suggest to both parent and pupil 
just what study should be done at home. The pupils* lesson 
books in the Uniform Lessons suggest daily Bible readings 
in the belief that parents will be interested in helping boys 
and girls to form the habit of daily Bible reading. These, 
with the suggestive questions and memorizing of Golden Text, 
form the basis for home work. 

To make this even more definite, the teacher may send 
to the parents each week a slip of paper suggesting certain 
work assigned to their children and asking the assistance of 
father and mother. One of the most effective ways in which 
the parent can aid the teacher is in the review of the lesson 
on Sunday afternoon, thus not only giving the pupils the 
opportunity of telling what they have learned, but also mak- 
ing them feel that father and mother are interested in what 
they are learning. The co-operation of parents is almost es- 
sential to the securing of assigned work, but the interest of 
both parent and pupil in this work is lost if the work assigned 
is not called for, or if, when well done, it does not receive 
the justly earned commendation of the teacher. 

The well-regulated, up-to-date school can not be carried 
on without money for supplies, appliances, and various inci- 
in Giving dentals. All of this can easily be met from the 
regular weekly offerings of the average school if 
the parents are sufficiently interested to help the boys and 
girls remember their offering, and to afford some means 
whereby the proverbial "penny" may be superseded by the 



PARENTS AND THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL 191 

nickel or the dime, or occasionally even a quarter, as an offer- 
ing from father and mother. Indeed, a regular fathers* and 
mothers' offering at stated periods would be a good idea, In 
the training of boys and girls in systematic giving a teacher 
is almost powerless without the co-operation of parents, for 
boys and girls must have some regular allowance or stated 
method of earning money before they can give systematically. 

The question of teaching reverence to the American child 
is a serious one, and yet it is an important basis of child re- 
ligion, if not all religion. It can not be taught by words di- 
In Reverence rect ly. It must be taught largely by personality 
and inference. The boy or girl who in the home 
constantly hears the church spoken of in a slighting manner, 
even though it be on account of needed repairs or the care- 
less work of the janitor, can not easily be taught reverence 
for God's house. The discussion of the failings of the pastor, 
the criticism of members of the teaching force of the Sunday- 
school, or even the ridicule of the taste of certain teachers in 
matters of dress, all tend to establish an irreverence for things 
sacred; while the common practice of using the name of God 
or heaven in careless exclamation does more to destroy rev- 
erence for those names than does their use in intended pro- 
fanity, from which a child naturally shrinks, unless he hear 
it too frequently. 

2. To sympathize. a l am so glad you are my Jennie's 
teacher !" Do parents realize how much such a simple ex- 
pression as this means to the teacher who is studying and 

. praying and working that she may be a true 

Sympathy teacher to Jennie and the other members of her 
class? The Superintendent to whom parents 
come with the question, "Who will my boy have for a teacher 
when he is promoted from this department?" feels a new 
courage. Teachers, in order to do their best work, need to 
feel that the parents are interested not only in their own 
children, but in the work the school is trying to do and in 
the individual workers. There is no better way of showing 

13 



i 9 2 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

this interest than by visiting the school; but many parents 
will not think of this unless invited. Parents should, there- 
fore, be frequently invited by the teachers. The pupils of 
certain classes should be asked to invite their parents to 
come with them on certain Sundays. The definiteness of such 
invitations is helpful. On special days invitations should be 
sent to all parents, and some social function for the parents, 
or parents and children of the Department, be planned for 
once or twice a year. In these the parents should be asked 
to help. 

III. The Teacher's Part 

i. To visit the home. The attitude of the parent toward 
the school in many cases is dependent on the teacher. That 
teacher who considers it part of her business to visit in the 
home and become personally acquainted with the parents is 
taking a long step toward securing the interest of the parent. 
Of course, when a pupil is ill the teacher will call, or if that 
is impossible, write a note. This may be looked upon as a 
"duty call;" but if the mother, especially if she be of a sensi- 
tive or retiring nature, feels that the Sunday-school teacher 
calls just because she wants to, and that she expects that 
call to be returned, it places teacher and parent on a differ- 
ent footing. 

2. To share the parent's viewpoint. It is said that 
when an automobile runs into a horse, it makes a big differ- 
ence in your viewpoint whether it is your automobile or your 
horse. The philosophy is strongly applicable to Sunday-school 
work. It makes a big difference when a child is irregular 
in attendance at Sunday-school, disorderly or careless in his 
work, whether it is your class or your child. A certain teacher 
said: "No, I have not been to call upon Esther. No, I have 
not telephoned to know how she is. She could come to 
Sunday-school as well as the rest of the class if her mother 
did not humor her so." The mother said: "Esther is very 
frail. I never call her in the morning, for I know if she 

4 






PARENTS AND THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL 193 

feels able to get up she will. This often makes her miss 
school and Sunday-school, but it is best for her." Whether 
the mother or the teacher was right is not the question, but 
that teacher will never win the mother or the child until she 
can see the child from the mother's point of view and work 
from that point toward the accomplishment of her end. Every 
mother's child is different from other children, and the teacher 
who would win the interest and co-operation of the parent 
must see that parent's child as the parent sees. 

3. To respect the parental relationship. A word of 
warning is necessary to the overzealous teacher who, feeling 
so keenly the needs of boys and girls and having so rigid a 
_ _ standard of right and wrong, forgets that to the 

Respect for • #-*•«■ • 

Parents parent belongs the God-given right to the respect 

of the child and of being his final authority, next 
to God, in deciding all questions. The parent may be in the 
wrong, but, except in the case of vital matters, when a child 
says, "My father or my mother says so," it is a very danger- 
ous matter to shatter that ideal or to encourage the Junior 
to set himself up as the instructor of his parents; while to 
say to him, Your father is wrong, and you must do so and so, 
is a positive wrong to both parent and child. This some- 
times places the teacher in a difficult position; but tact and 
the wisdom that is from above will enable him to meet the 
situation without detracting from the child's respect for his 
parents, even while establishing the right ideal in his mind. 
A teacher sometimes thoughtlessly says, "Tell your mother 
that she must get you ready for Sunday-school on time." The 
parent receiving such a message does not feel a greatly in- 
creased interest in the school. The stories, so common in our 
Sunday-school literature, of parents who made serious mis- 
takes in judgment, or committed crimes, while the boys and 
girls were wiser or won them by their own noble living to 
lives of rectitude, are riot means toward establishing respect 
for parents, and the Sunday-school should be one of the strong 
factors in cementing the closest relationship between parents 
and children. 4 



194 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

To be workers together with parents, as well as workers 
with God, should be the aim of v the Junior teacher. 

Lesson Outline: 

I. The Sunday-school and the Home. 
II. The Parents' Part, 
i. To co-operate. 
2. To sympathize. 
III. The Teacher's Part. 

1. To visit the home. 

2. To share the parents' viewpoint. 

3. To respect the parental relationship. 

Topics for Special Study: 

1. The unconscious influence of parents. 

2. Possible forms of co-operation between parent and 

teacher. 

Topics for Class Discussion: 

1. The parents' responsibility for religious training of 

children. 

2. What is the effect of the parents' attitude toward the 

Sunday-school ? 

3. The unconscious effect of the parent on the child's 

religious life. 

4. In what ways may the parent co-operate with the 

teacher ? 

5. What is the meaning of the term sympathy as ap- 

plied to the relation of parent and teacher? 

6. How may parent and teacher co-operate in teaching 

reverence ? 

7. What does a teacher owe the parents of the child? 

8. How do teachers sometimes lose the interest of the 

parents ? 






CHAPTER XX 
SPIRITUAL RESULTS 

The ability to do fruitful religious work with the Juniors 

and to train them in His service must originate in the spirit 

life of the teacher. The teacher who is not conscious of the 

_ Mm m definite presence and power of Christ in his own 

Conditions ... , r „ . ■ 

of Success "* e » wno ^ oes not * ove ^od Wltn a ^ " 1S neart » 
mind, and strength, can never help boys and girls 
to know and love and trust Him. The one who does not love 
his neighbor as himself can never train the Junior to realize 
his duty to others, and only he who looks upon himself as the 
representative of Christ and his body as the temple of the 
Holy Spirit can help boys and girls to recognize their duty 
to themselves. 

The first condition of success, then, lies within. It is the 
transference of heart experience, of spirit life that touches 
heart and spirit, and one can communicate only that which 
he has. This means putting spiritual things first. It means 
effort; it means sacrifice. It means living close to God in 
the consciousness of His presence and the joy of His service, 
whatever that service may cost. 

It may probably be said that not since the organization of 
the Sunday-school has there been a teacher who did not in 
a general way hope that her boys and girls would become 
Christians; more than this, teachers as a rule expect that 
some time the boys and girls of the Sunday-school will vow 
allegiance to Christ. This is good, but it will never win the 
boys and girls, because it will never put into the teaching the 
definiteness that will make boys and girls want to be Chris- 

195 4 



ig6 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

tians now. Juniors are quite inclined to meet the expectation 
of the teacher, and that teacher who expects them to becom* 
Christians some time is rarely surprised by the "some time" 
becoming "now." On the other hand, the teacher who takes 
it for granted that no member of his class will graduate with- 
out being a confessed follower of Jesus Christ prepares every 
lesson in this expectation and his teaching pulsates with the 
power, love, and faithfulness of Christ, while his life radiates 
an atmosphere that makes the Christian life the most noble, 
the most happy, and the most desirable to his class. 

"You can have almost anything you want if you will go 
after it hard enough,'* is an expression freighted with a weight 
of meaning to a Sunday-school teacher. One may make the 

most elaborate and careful preparation of his les- 
Go after TT . « . 

Results son * ** e ma y so P resent it as to make it a part 

of the life of the members of his class; he may 
himself so live before his class as to make the life of a 
Christian the ideal of those boys and girls, and yet they 
may pass out from under his teaching without having defi- 
nitely acknowledged their purpose to serve God. Why? Be- 
cause that teacher has never definitely and personally asked 
them to take this stand. They have been ready for it. Many 
of them have wanted to do so. 

Some of them perhaps on another day may come into this 
open allegiance to Christ through revival services, because of 
the preparation made by the teacher, and the revivalist will 
have the blessing which belonged to the teacher, and which 
might have been his had he but expected it and claimed it. 

Why the personal work should be necessary we may not 
know, but it is God's plan. Statistics show that very few 
make a public profession except in response to a definite in- 
vitation. All acknowledge the fact, and yet how strange that 
many Junior teachers fail at this point on the plea of "I do n't 
know how!" There is but one way to learn how, and that is 
by a persistent prayer that God will so burden you with a 
love and care for and an interest in each individual member 

4 



SPIRITUAL RESULTS 197 

of your class that you can not rest until every one Is an- 
chored to God, and the "how" will take care of itself. He 
who shapes the burden will not fail to give the needed wisdom. 

I. The Religion of the Junior 

I, An open allegiance. The little child lives in fellow- 
ship with the spiritual; all that seems necessary to win his 
love to God is to make him acquainted with the loving care 
of the Heavenly Father ; and with the child to love is to trust. 
His imagination enables him to enter naturally into the spirit 
world; it is all very simple and natural to him. The religion 
of childhood is beautiful because of its simplicity and sincerity. 
He loves because you love. He trusts because you tell him 
God is trustworthy. With his love he may also be easily led 
to feel, so far as a child can, some measure of obligation 
and duty. 

But as he enters the Junior years he is no longer an un- 
thinking and unreasoning child. Parents now begin to throw 
the responsibility of choice and decision upon him as the 
powers of independent thought and of reason 

itTnTlnm- awake int0 activit ^ Sha11 a wal1 now be built 
vidual Choice tbat w ^ snut n ^ m outside the Kingdom till he 
comes seeking admission? Nay, verily. He may, 
frequently does at some time during the Junior period, come 
to the point when, like the Hebrew slave in the seventh year, 
he is free and may go out and away from God; yet, fike that 
slave, he may also say, "I love my masfer and I will not be 
free." The great opportunity of the Junior teacher lies in 
so leading these boys and girls that when this time comes 
they may choose to continue to belong to God as long as 
they live, because they love Him and want to belong to Him. 
It is not the turning away from a life of sin, which is im- 
possible for the average boy and girl, but rather the definite 
decision never to enter into a life that does not belong to God. 
With the Junior the decision comes largely through a 
reverence for the power and majesty of God, making him 



198 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

feel that he has a leader worthy to be followed. Even more 
powerful than this reverence, which comes from knowing God 
through the wonder of His mighty works, is the influence of 
the God of parent or teacher; and the God whom the Junior 
decides to follow is not the Godhead of the Trinity, or even 
the God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, so much as 
the God of the one who leads him to this decision. 

2. A religion of service. The religion of the Junior pe- 
riod is not an introspective religion. It can hardly be called 
a religion of faith, but rather of works, for the Junior does 

. first and believes afterward. However it may 

Comes First ke w ^^ tne adult, this is perfectly normal for 
boys and girls. As a rule, faith so-called is almost 
an unknown quantity to the boy; he decides to follow God 
because He is God, and faith develops as he grows spiritually 
through the performance of the religious activities. This 
places the greatest responsibility and the means of attaining 
the largest spiritual results upon the formation of habits of 
righteousness or right-doing. 

An expressed decision for Christ, like graduation from 
grammar school, is both the goal and the starting-point with 
the Junior. It is an end for which the teacher has been 
working, but the beginning of a work far greater in impor- 
tance, and without the training that shall develop this im- 
pulse Christward it will droop and eventually, in many 
cases, die. 

The Junior teacher has a right to expect not only that his 
pupils shall be Christians, but that, having chosen a leader, 
they shall recognize their obligation of obedience to His laws ; 
that knowing Him as the God of strength and power, they 
shall learn to trust Him and regard Him with a deep and 
abiding love, which it is difficult for a Junior to feel for a 
spiritual God, but which is the natural development, in later 
years in a life of obedience and service. Every act of obe- 
dience or service is one of the foundation stones of faith 
and love. 

4 



SPIRITUAL RESULTS igg 

The development of a realization of one's duty to others 

must, and naturally does, go hand in hand with the develop- 

_ ment of the social instinct and associated inter- 

Duty to 
others ests - The play instinct, so strong in Juniors, is 

the great field for training in this recognition of 

others' rights and feelings. 

The Junior who learns to play fairly, to respect the rights 
of others in a game, to take victory without arrogance and 
defeat graciously, has made long strides spiritually and laid 
well the foundation for loving his neighbor as himself, and 
this the Junior teacher should expect. 

3. Loyalty and obedience. The heroes held before the 
admiring gaze of the Junior are to be men and women who 
express in their lives the highest type of moral action. They 
are also to be men of religious character and power, earnest, 
loyal, faithful, obedient to God and His will. The Junior 
through love for his hero may be brought to love and admira- 
tion for the moral and spiritual. The next step is for the 
Junior himself to espouse those same ideals. This by patient, 
tactful dealing may be brought about. 

Especial emphasis should be placed upon obedience. Now 
is the time for the boy to realize the meaning of law and to 
learn respect for it and obedience to it. Great advantage will 
have been gained if the child has learned to obey in the 
home. If the parents have been negligent in their duty the 
teacher's burden is vastly increased. Now is the time when, 
if ever, he must begin to show submission and obedience 
to law. 

This is also a time of susceptibility to the truth that "what- 
soever a man soweth that shall he also reap," and before leav- 
ing this department he should know that he is responsible for 
Duty to Self tne things which he does and the choices he 
makes, that he is a free agent in the matter of 
choices, that the right choice is not a matter of the moment 
but of great importance, and that, however much father and 
mother may wish to help him, he will be obliged to bear 

4 



200 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

the results. Every effort should be made to safeguard 
him against certain temptations. The signing of the tem- 
perance and anti-cigarette pledges, and a firm determination 
not to listen to coarse and impure stories, are a great help 
at this period. 

4. The formation of right habits. Religion is far more 
a matter of habit than is usually realized. Religious habits, 
referring to certain forms of religious observances, are fre- 
quently spoken of lightly without a recognition of the fact 
that these very observances are both the cause and the effect 
of the religious life. 

Perhaps the fundamental religious habit toward the forma- 
tion of which the Junior Department should bend its energy 
is that of reverence. Religion depends largely on reverence, 
Reverence anc * during this power-worshiping age it should 
not be a difficult matter to establish in the hearts 
of boys and girls a great reverence for God, who by the word 
of His power created all things, or for Jesus Christ, the 
mighty Son of God, the performer of mighty works of 
power. 

The habit of dependence upon God through prayer is 
easily formed. If he has not already formed a habit of 
daily prayer he should be encouraged to do so. "Habitual 
Prayer prayer to God is the starting-point of spiritual 

religion." Prayer to the Junior should be a defi- 
nite thing, not a matter of words. The Junior boy who ex- 
plained his prowess in a certain game by saying, "I never made 
a move without asking God to help me," and in answer to a 
further question said, "I never do anything without asking 
God to help me; and why not ask Him to help me win a 
game?" has formed a habit of dependence on God that he 
can never get away from. The Junior age is the golden op- 
portunity for forming this habit of prayer. 

A father being asked why his daughter, who was a devotee 
of society, happened to be so faithful in her attendance at the 



SPIRITUAL RESULTS 201 

morning preaching service of the Church, replied: "From the 
time she was five years old we went to church together every 
Sunday morning until she went away to college. She could n't 
stay away. The habit is too strongly formed. ,, The habit of 
family church attendance is far less strong than formerly. 

To-day many Junior boys and girls have no pre- 
Attendance cedent of custom to aid in making the attendance 

at church a habit, and the incentive must come 
from the Sunday-school. The go-to-church bands, the sermon 
text-books, or books in which some one fact of the sermon 
is to be written, and the short sermons to boys and girls, 
are all aids, but the real incentive lies in the teacher. Boys 
and girls whose parents are disinterested will often attend 
church with "teacher" just because she wishes them to, or 
because she always goes and asks them to accompany her. 
This is the story age, and the Bible is the best story book 
ever written. It is the privilege of the Junior Department 
to help boys and girls form the habit of reading the Bible, 

not in verses, but in stories, making it to them 
Reading tne most interesting of books. The Juniors are 

also great investigators and may be trained to 
delve into the Bible and find out things for themselves, thus 
forming the habit of real Bible study. 

The importance of habit formation now is increased by 
the fact that during this period habits of one kind or another 
are being formed. It is the nascent period for habit forma- 
tion. How urgent it is that it be utilized is shown by this 
illustration from Professor James. He states that if a young 
squirrel is taken into captivity, fed and cared for, the instinct 
of hiding nuts will manifest itself. The young squirrel will 
stop, glance all about as if to detect spies, scratch on the cage 
floor, and go through all the motions of depositing the nuts 
and covering them. But as months go by he has no need to 
make use of a hidden store, hence instinctive actions do not 
become a habit. If, later, the squirrel is turned free in the 

4 



202 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

woods, in all probability he will be unable to provide for his 
winter's needs. He will perish for want of a habit which was 
not formed in its nascent period. 

This places upon the guardians of these years a very great 
responsibility. This subject of habit formation as related to 
the Junior period is thus admirably presented in a summary 
statement by a well-known writer: 

"First : The years up to twelve present two conditions for 
habit formation — plastic brain cells and action easily secured — 
as no succeeding years present them. Second : Habit forma- 
tion, either right or wrong, is constantly going on, for every 
action leaves its impress and makes repetition easier. Third: 
Right habits may be formed as easily as wrong, if the task 
is definitely undertaken. Since the importance of these years 
is clearly evident, the method of habit formation may be 
briefly stated. First, secure the desired action; second, se- 
cure its successive repetition without a lapse, as far as pos- 
sible. (Lamoreaux, "The Unfolding Life," p. 143.) 

5. Church membership. Many of our Juniors have been 
baptized in infancy and, if the regulations of the Church have 
been adhered to, are recorded and recognized as probationary 
members of the Church. As an expression of their allegiance 
to God and to His cause they may be readily led to unite 
with the Church in full membership. It should be explained 
to them that they are already members of the Church by 
virtue of the Heavenly Father's love, the Savior's sacrifice, 
and their parents' will ; but now, having come to a time when 
they must begin to make life-choices for themselves, it is 
their privilege to ratify by their own action what has pre- 
viously been done for them by others. 

In the case of those who are not already members of the 
Church a declaration of allegiance presents a most favorable 
opportunity. They should clearly understand the implications 
of the act; it should be especially impressed upon them that 
in becoming a member of the Church they are committing, 
themselves for life, not for a day or a year. Becoming a 

4 



SPIRITUAL RESULTS 203 

member of the Church appeals to a Junior as it may never 
appeal at any later period. The sense of ownership in, of 
being a part of the Church, exerts an influence now stronger 
than at any future time. 

Unfortunately in some communities there is a prejudice 
on the part of parents against boys and girls uniting with the 
Church. It has small basis in reason and has undoubtedly 
been the means of keeping many a person permanently out 
of the Church. It is an exceedingly serious thing to deny 
admission to the Church to any boy or girl at any time 
when a strong desire to come into the Church exists; it is 
not unlikely that it may never come again. The objection 
most often made, that the child does not fully understand 
what it means, is of little importance. 1 How many adults 
fully understand its import? Membership in the Church of 
God should be as simple as membership in the home, where 
the child gradually grows into a realization of the obligations 
and duties incumbent upon him as a member of the family. 

The Church has a much stronger hold on boys and girls 
who are its members than it can have on those who are out- 
side. 

II. Conclusion 

1. A point to be guarded. Do not force a religious pro- 
fession. Have a proper respect for the child's personality. 
Remember that many of these children are easily led, and 
that they might be persuaded to act or even speak when a 

1 "If nurture has cared for the spiritual life of the child, he will 
probably desire during this period to publicly confess his love for Jesus 
Christ. Even if he has not been so nurtured, every condition in his life 
makes it easier now than it ever will be later to lead him to acceptance 
of Christ. Though there comes a great spiritual awakening in adoles- 
cence, there is at the same time more in the life to oppose the decision 
for Christ than in childhood. The Christian life has not the meaning 
for him that it will have later on, spiritual vision is not broad nor deep, 
but if the child genuinely loves the Savior and wants to use his energy 
for Him, he is laying at the Master's feet all he has now to give; and 
if Christ accepts the gift, the Church ought to accept the giver. There 
is no greater crime against childhood than to bar the doors to those babes 
in Christ, nor, assuredly, can any act bring keener pain to the Passion- 
ate Lover of little children, who said, 'Let them come unto Me, and for- 
bid them notl' " — Lamoreaux, "The Unfolding Life," p. 145. 



20 4 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

proper motive and purpose is lacking. Beyond all things we 
must cherish genuineness in religion. For a religious pro- 
fession to be made which is not the genuine, deep expression 
of the whole being may be a misfortune. It will surely tend 
to separate religion from life and make it a thing apart. It 
may also react in such a way as to make the boy or girl lose 
faith in the reality of religion. In later days they may say 
in response to an appeal, "O, I professed religion once when 
I was a Junior, and it amounted to nothing." This would 
be a calamity. 

The whole matter is well stated in two quotations from 
Professor Pattee: 

"We should work steadily toward the attainment of the 
earliest possible age of experimental religion, but as a rule 
it is hazardous to call for 'professions' before the twelfth 
year. Inculcate habits, teach obedience to law, dwell on the 
father-love of God and the brother-love of Christ, foster the 
spirit of reverent inquiry which most children have at this 
age, give object lessons; but never force experiences. The 
conversion period is ordained by God Himself. The great 
majority of all conversions . . . come during adolescence, 
not very far from the age of fourteen. To force conversions 
before ten or twelve is as unnatural as to force a child into 
the duties and responsibilities of maturity." 

"It is a serious mistake to measure the success of the re- 
ligious teaching of children by their early 'profession' of re- 
ligion. . . . Dr. McFarland tells of a primary teacher who 
confessed to him that her greatest trouble was from good 
people who came to her, asking, 'Have these little children 
had any change of heart?' He replied, The next time people 
come to you asking, "Have these little children had any 
change of heart?" do you say to them that you are laboring 
and praying seven days in the week to prevent them from 
having any change of heart/ The truth he sought to express 
had been uttered centuries before by the Master, 'Let the 
little ones come unto Me, for of such is the Kingdom of 

4 



SPIRITUAL RESULTS 205 

heaven.' Jesus did not mean that they were perfect, or that 
they had what would pass in some modern Churches as a 
'religious experience;' he meant that the one thing needed 
for them was the removal by older Christians of everything 
that might keep the children from Him. To train children 
in practical goodness and to keep open the way to God — this 
is to nurture true religion; this is to get ready for what 
surely is coming. For every child the breaking period is at 
hand; it is written in the child's very life; he can not escape 
it; and the outcome will depend very largely upon the early 
years of preparation." 

2. Summary, In the Junior Department, as earlier, the 
spiritual work to be done is one of seed-sowing, nurture, and 
assisting development. The teacher may be sure that every 
boy or girl in his class has some spiritual interests, some re- 
ligious impulses and purposes, some yearnings 
Nourish the and str i v i ngs a f ter the divine. The teacher's 

Growing . 

Spiritual Life tas ^ * s *° ^ n< ^ tms spiritual foundation and build 
upon it, or, to change the figure, to draw out 
the powers of the spiritual nature which exist in the way of 
self-expression. His constant endeavor should be to appeal 
to the spiritual interests, to nourish every good impulse, and 
to strengthen every spiritual purpose. Every response which 
the teacher secures marks a stage of growth ; it may be slight, 
but it is of significance and importance, for it is the indica- 
tion of an increasing life. Gradual growth may continue until 
the period of full maturity is attained, or it may be interrupted 
by one or more periods of sudden, sharp, and decisive crises — 
experiences in which revolutionary changes occur and decided 
and marked advance is made. Of course, there is at all times 
the possibility of spiritual decline or even disaster, and the 
teacher should work constantly with this in mind. The point 
we are making is that the concept of growth constantly kept 
in mind by the teacher will aid him in making his work more 
effective. The great, ever-present fact before the teacher 
should be this: That he is dealing with developing religious 

4 



2o6 THE JUNIOR WORKER AND HIS WORK 

lives. Modes, types, varieties of experience, these are not 
especially important. Of supreme importance is that these 
growing boys and girls, His Juniors, each in the way deter- 
mined by his own individuality, come fully to know Him, 
"whom to know aright is life eternal, ,, and to enlist whole- 
heartedly, with all their splendid energy and activity in His 
service, whom to serve in loyalty and faithfulness is to be 
eternally blessed. 

Lesson Outline: 

I. The Religion of the Junior, 
i. An open allegiance. 

2. A religion of service. 

3. Loyalty and obedience. 

4. The formation of right habits. 

5. Church membership. 

II. Conclusion. 

1. A Point to be guarded. 

2. Summary. 

Topic for Special Study: 

1. Conversion during the Junior Period. 

Topics for Class Discussion: 

1. Name some fundamental conditions of success in 

religious work with Juniors. 

2. What may we expect from the Junior in the way 

of religious decision? 

3. Why does the Junior espouse a religion of service? 

4. How may right habits be inculcated? 

5. What is the importance of right habits being formed? 

6. Should Juniors be encouraged to unite with the 

Church ? 

7. What is to be said concerning conversion during this 

period ? 






SPIRITUAL RESULTS 207 



THE JUNIOR TEACHER AND HIS TASK 

"0 God!" I cried, "Why may I not forget? 

These boys and girls entering life's battle 

Throng me yet, 

Am I their keeper? Only I — to bear 

This constant burden for their good and care? 

So often have I seen them led in paths of sin — 

Would that my eyes had never open been !" 

And the thorn-crowned and patient One 

Replied, "They thronged Me, tQo ; I, too, have seen." 

"So many others go at will," I said, 

Protesting still. 

"They go, unheeding; but these boys and girls, 

Willful and thoughtless, yes, and those that sin, 

Drag at my heart. For them I serve and groan. 

Why is it? Let me rest, Lord. I have tried" — 

But He turned and looked at me: "But I have died." 

"But, Lord, this ceaseless travail of my soul! 

This stress ! This often fruitless toil 

These souls to win! 

They are not mine." 

He looked at them — the look of one divine! 

He turned and looked at me: "But they are Mine." 

"O God!" I said, "I understand at last. 
Forgive! and henceforth I will bondslave be 
To Thy least, frailest little ones; 
I would not more be free." 
He smiled and said, "It is to Me." 
(Adapted from "My Burden," by Lucy Rider Meyer.) 



H 



INDEX 



Acquisition, 41. 

Activities for the class, i8off; or- 
ganized, 182; unorganized, 182. 

Administration of the Graded 
School, 14; principles to be re- 
garded in, 14. 

Anecdote, 137. 

Application, 126. 

Association and comparison, no. 

Athletic clubs, 183. 

Attendance upon church services, 
201. 

Attention, attracting and hold- 
ing the, 101 ; definitions of, 98 ; 
kinds of, 99 ; laws of, 101 ; the 
problem of, 98ff. 

Barclay, W. C, 80, 98, 105. 
Beginners' period, characteriza- 
tion of, 21. 
Bible reading, 201. 
Bibles, the kind to get, 73. 
Birthdays, recognition of, 145, 175. 
Blackboard, 71 ; the best use of, 

138. 
Books, choice of, 39. 

Chairs, 67. 

Character development, 43. 

Characteristics of Juniors, gen- 
eral, 20, 29 ; manifestations of, 
37ff; mental, 31; physical, 29; 
religious, 34 ; significance in 
character development, 43. 

Charts, 77. 

Children's Day, 175. 

Christmas, 173. 

Christianity, dignity of, 49. 

Choir, Junior, 168. 

Church, attendance upon, 201 ; 
membership, 202. 



Classes, organization of, 62 ; sep- 
arate rooms for, 14. 
Clubs, 183. 
Collections, 40. 
Companions, influence of, 40. 
Concentration, necessity for, 122. 
Cope, H. F., 52, 154. 
Course of study, 91. 
Curiosity, 31 ; appeal to, 103. 

Dawson, G. E., 89. 
Decision Day, 177. 
Deduction, 113. 
Departmental officers, 82. 
Departments, separate rooms for, 

M\ . 

Discipline, 149. 

Distraction, removal of causes, 

102. 
DuBois, Patterson, 155. 
Duties of teachers, 85. 
Duty, to others, 199 ; to self, 199. 

Easter, 173. 

Educational club, 184. 

Equipment, to be provided, 17; 
departmental, 64ff; for hand- 
work, 159; for pupil, 73; for 
special subjects, 75 ; for teacher, 
7i. 

Flag, 69. 

Floor covering, 67. 

Fourth of July, 174. 

Fundamentals of teaching, iosff. 

Games, of competition, 37 ; of im- 
itation, 38. 
Gang, 39; influence of, 40; use of 

40. 



209 



210 



INDEX 



Generalization, in, 125. 

Geography, 91 ; as handwork, 157. 

Giving, 52. 

Graded Lesson series, 91 ; advan- 
tages of, 94; for Juniors, 93; 
how introduce, 94. 

Graded school, administration of, 
14; a modern, 56 ; how organize, 
57 ; officers necessary, 8 ; stand- 
ard of organization, 7ff ; what 
constitutes a, 9. 

Grades, teachers to remain in 
charge of, 15. 

Grading, basis of, 58; early at- 
tempts at, 56; is working in 
harmony with God, 13 ; neces- 
sity for, 10; objections to, 11. 

Habits, formation of right, 200. 

Hall, G. Stanley, 51. 

Handwork, adaptation to Junior 
department, 155; material for, 
74, 91, 159 ; table for, 160; time 
for, 160 ; types of, 156 ; value of, 
153; ways and means, 161. 

Haslett, 90. 

Herbart's principles, 108. 

Hero biography, 90. 

Hero worship, 35. 

Hints on story telling, 129. 

History, 90. 

Home and Sunday-school, 186. 

Hymns, memorization of, 167 ; se- 
lection of, 165. 

Illustrations, kinds of, 136 ; mate- 
rial, 137; service of, 124; uses 
of, 139 ; verbal, 136. 

Imagination, 33. 

Induction, 112. 

Influence, of companions, 40; of 
personality, 48; investment of, 

49. 

Instruction, 50; fundamental to 
life, 108; materials of, 88ff; 
methods of, 88; missionary, 171 ; 
place in program, 146 ; temper- 
ance, 76, 172. 

Instrument, musical, 69. 

Interest the basis of obligation, 
128. 



Intermediates, characteristics of, 

24. 
Investment of time and influence, 

69. 

Junior department, classification 
of, 60 ; organization of, 59 ; or- 
ganization of classes in, 62 ; re- 
lation to school, 61. 

Junior period, 19; characteristics 
of pupils, 29f ; general charac- 
terization, 20, 29; importance 
of, 27. 

King, H. C, 50. 

Lamoreaux, Mrs. A. A., 49. 

Lesson, as to the method of pres- 
entation, 121 ; general sugges- 
tions, 123 ; possible methods of 
presentation, 121; plan for, 118; 
preparation by parents, 190. 

Librarian, 84. 

Library, Workers', 71 ; Junior', 

74. 
Literature for mission study, 76. 
Loyalty, 199. 

McFarland, J. T., 89. 

McMurry, 108, 114, 125, 132, 134. 

Maps, 72, 76 ; as handwork, 158. 

Mark, 120, 124. 

Materials for handwork, 74, 159. 

Materials of instruction, 88ff^ de- 
termination of, 88; description 
of, 90. 

Memorial Day, 174. 

Memorization, 91 ; of hymns, 167. 

Memory, 33 ; enlisting the aid of, 
139; what it depends on, 139. 

Men as teachers of boys, 49. 

Mental characteristics of Juniors, 

Metaphor, 136. 

Methodist boys' organization, 184. 

Method of instruction, logical, 88 ; 

psychological, 88; of lesson 

presentation, 121. 
Meyer, Lucy Rider, 207. 
Mission study, equipment for, 75. 
Mite boxes, 76. 

4 



INDEX 



211 



Music, importance of, 163 ; instru- 
ment, 69 ; selection of, 165. 

Obedience, 199. 

Officers, departmental, 82. 

Opening- exercises, 15; in Junior 
department, 148. 

Organization, conditions deter- 
mine details of, 7 ; ideal stand- 
ard of, 7 ; method of, 57 ; Meth- 
odist boys', 184; of Junior de- 
partment, 59 ; plan of graded, 
12; purpose of, 7; system of 
grading, 55. 

Out door life, desire for, 41. 

Ownership, 53. 

Parents, and the Sunday-school, 
189. 

Pastor, relation to the Sunday- 
school, 8. 

Patriotic Days, 174. 

Pattee, F. I,., 81, 123, 132. 

Personality, influence of, 48, 79. 

Pestalozzi, 106. 

Philanthropic club, 183. 

Physical characteristics of Juniors, 
29. ? 

Pictures, 68, 137. 

Play, and work, 37 ; constructive, 

3*. 

Point of contact, 109 ; examples of, 
120; importance of, 119. 

Post cards, 76. 

Practical application of lesson, 
113, 126. 

Prayer, 200. 

Preparation, as a step in teaching, 
109; lesson plan, 118; prompt 
beginning in, 117; the teacher's, 
n6ff; to consider the needs of 
pupils, 118. 

Presentation, 109 ; general sugges- 
tions, 123. 

Primaries, characteristics of, 22. 

Program, character of, 148; details 
of, 143 ; necessity for, 143 ; out- 
lines of, 143. 

Promotion Day, 175. 

Qualifications of Junior worker, 
7 9 ff. 



Questioning, abuse of, 131 ; im- 
portance of, 130 ; use of, 131. 

Questions, examples of, 134 ; form 
of, 133 ; kinds of, 132 ; review, 
135; use of, 131. 

Rally Day, 176. 

Reading, choice of books, 39; 

Juniors' delight in, 32. 
Reasoning, 33. 
Recognition of birthdays, 145 ; of 

new members, 145. 
Records, marking of, 147. 
Religion of the Junior, i97f. 
Religious characteristics of 

Juniors, 34. 
Religious profession, do not force, 

203. 
Reverence, 200. 
Room, for the Junior department, 

64 ; care of, 66 ; furnishings, 67 ; 

size and arrangement of, 65; 

when separate room is impos- 
sible, 65. 

Seniors, characteristics of, 25f. 

Separate rooms for departments 
and classes, 14, 64. 

Sex antagonism, 39. 

Simile, 136. 

Singing in the school, 167. 

Social pleasures, 53. 

Song-books, 73 ; choice of 166. 

Special Days, observance of, 170 ; 
Christmas, 173; B aster, 173; 
missionary, 171 ; patriotic, 174 ; 
purpose of, 170; temperance, 
172; thanksgiving, 174. 

Spiritual life, nourishing the, 205. 

Spiritual results, i95ff. 

Standard of organization, 7. 

Story, as a method of teaching, 
128 ; hints on telling, 129. 

Sunday-school, divisions of, 13; 
and the home, 186; and par- 
ents, 189. 

Superintendent of the Junior de- 
partment, election of, 82. 

Supplemental lessons, 95. 

Sympathy between teacher and 
parents, 191. 

Table for handwork, 160. 



212 



INDEX 



Teacher, his preparation, 116 ; les- 
son preparation, n6ff; relation 
to parents, 1921*. 

Teachers, duties of, 85; election 
of, 84 ; for boys' classes, 49 ; for 
certain grades, 15; grading of, 
85 ; in graded school, 57 ; quali- 
fications of, 79ff ; substitute, 85 ; 
and parents, 191. 

Temperance instruction, 76; Day, 
172. 



Thanksgiving, observance of, 174. 
Time, economy of, 118; for hand- 
work, 160. 
Training in service, 51. 

Variety in teaching, 102. 
Ventilation, 66. 

Worship, in the program, 143. 



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